Russian airlines expected to foot bill for replacing SJ-100 engines without govt support - United Aircraft Corp

YEKATERINBURG. July 6 (Interfax) - The operating Russian airlines are expected to foot the bill to replace the engines of SJ-100 aircraft manufactured before 2022, without attracting government support, Vadim Badekha, CEO of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) , part of Rostec state corporation, said.

"We assume that the airlines themselves will finance replacing the engines. I would like to emphasize once again that the cost of this modification is not particularly high, nor is it one that the airlines could not afford. We do not plan to attract federal funds to finance replacing the engines," Badekha told reporters on the sidelines of the Innoprom-2026 forum.

UAC has tentatively proposed including 50 Superjets manufactured before 2022 in the engine replacement program, namely replacing the Russian-French SaM146 engines with Russian-made PD-8s, the Kommersant publication reported, citing sources. According to the sources, the figure has been determined based on the aircraft's condition, resource limitations for non-replaceable components, and the projected service life. The work is expected to begin by the end of 2029, with a preliminary cost of 2.3 billion rubles per aircraft.

According to UAC's preliminary estimates, between 50 and 100 Superjets will require engine replacements, Badekha told reporters, adding that the cost estimate cited by Kommersant was inaccurate.

"We can say for certain that the estimates reported in Kommersant bear no relation to reality. The cost of the engine is known today, the cost of the modification is known. This is definitely within the normal economic framework, and there could be no talk of hundreds of billions or tens of billions. This information is incorrect," Badekha said.

Badekha also said that there is no need to replace foreign components in the Superjets' avionics.

"There is no problem at the moment. It [the avionics] operates, is maintained, and repaired, just as foreign avionics operates, is maintained, and is operated on foreign aircraft flying in the Russian Federation," Badekha concluded.