Aeroflot fears Superjet fleet will shrink without state help replacing engines
Aeroflot will only be able to replace the foreign-made engines on its Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft with Russian ones if the state provides support, the airline’s CEO, Sergei Alexandrovsky, said.
Aeroflot's CEO, Sergei Alexandrovsky, cautioned that the airline will struggle to replace foreign engines on its Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft without government assistance. He warned that without financial aid, some planes may be removed from service, leading to a reduction in the overall Superjet fleet. Following Russia's 2022 sanctions against its aviation sector, the Superjets were compelled to undergo a rebuilding process, replacing the Russian-French SaM-146 engines with locally produced PD-8 engines.
The estimated expense for this re-engining project ranges between 2.1 to 2.3 billion rubles per aircraft. Industry experts, as reported by the Russian newspaper Kommersant, expressed doubts about United Engine Corporation's capacity to produce sufficient PD-8 engines. In 2026, Vadim Badekha, the head of United Aircraft Corporation, stated that airlines would be responsible for covering the costs of engine replacements, with no planned budget funds allocated for this endeavor.
As of now, approximately 160 SSJ 100 aircraft are active in Russia, with the majority — 78 — belonging to Rossiya, a subsidiary of Aeroflot Group.
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