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Yes, and they are ahead of COMAC in the number of aircraft produced. It will be interesting to see if UAC emerges as a serious competitor to Boeing and Airbus
by D_Alex 2y ago
Yes, and they are ahead of COMAC in the number of aircraft produced.
It will be interesting to see if UAC emerges as a serious competitor to Boeing and Airbus (and COMAC) in the near future.
- drysine 2y agoYeah, waiting to see if the current iteration of PD-14 engine[0] is finally up to the task. Two years ago UAC tested them and found to be in the need of improvement. [0] https://rostec.ru/media/news/rostekh-peredal-partiyu-seriynykh-aviadvigateley-pd-14-dlya-ms-21/ https://rostec.ru/media/news/rostekh-peredal-partiyu-seriyny...
- D_Alex 2y agoYep... it is hard to build a competitive jet engine. If the Russians manage to do this, it would be another example of the stupidity of the sanctions. I bet COMAC is cheering them on too.
- notahacker 2y agoSeems unlikely. They had their window of opportunity when they had an active Western marketing arm, Russia wasn't a sanctioned nation, COMAC was barely getting started and the early reports of the Superjet were quite positive. Suffice to say the airlines that passed on the opportunity aren't regretting it and the couple that bought them did regret it.
- D_Alex 2y agoI disagree with you about the effect of sanctions. Their result was that airliners became a strategic priority rather than something Russia was happy to buy overseas forever. Furthermore, the sanctions demonstrated that there is sovereign risk associated with purchasing Western airliners. Finally, IIRC the airline's regrets were largely related to the poor early reliability of the French-built parts, specifically combustors, for the Superjet engines. It remains to be seen how the new Russian engines will perform.
- notahacker 2y agoDemand for Russian built airlines in Russia /= them being competitive with Boeing and Airbus. The USSR built airliners as a strategic priority for the domestic market for decades: their track record of being terrible was one of the reasons behind scepticism of the Superjet And airlines in most countries have far more to worry about buying aircraft whose maintenance depends on a faraway pariah state and that are not certified in Europe than they do about US sanctions targeting them. And even if they do, still not necessarily more difficult to circumvent the sanctions (as Mahan Air did with wet leased 747s) and access a worldwide parts supply and MRO market than rely on being able to maintain and sell on your Russian aircraft at reasonable price and timeliness... It would also be surprising if the new Russian engines were competitive on performance with new Western engines, and likewise with other components they've had to switch to domestic manufacture for.
- drysine 2y ago>faraway pariah state By that you mean a state sanctioned by the US and the EU, which together comprise about 10% of the world's population.
- notahacker 2y agoAnd most of the companies that'll get parts shipped to you and do your maintenance, especially when you consider getting UAC MRO certifications isn't exactly an exciting opportunity for companies from China, the Middle East or Latin America either. And doing business with Russian aerospace companies was a PITA when you had access to easy international payments and didn't have a risk of becoming a sanctioned company yourself
- nradov 2y agoThe sanctions have almost entirely shut down Russian airliner production. They have only managed to deliver a handful of complete aircraft since 2022, and those largely used parts already on hand. Much of their supply chain is just gone and will take years to rebuild. When they eventually do get the complete production system up and running again their engines will still be less fuel efficient: airlines live and die by fuel efficiency.
- kragen 2y agoProbably the sanctions will be greatly reduced or eliminated this year or next, and the sanctions are great marketing to other countries that fear being sanctioned—which, following Vance's speech in Munich, probably should include Romania, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and maybe even the UK.
- notahacker 2y agoI don't think Swedes and Brits are particularly worried about being unable to obtain parts and maintenance for Boeing aircraft, never mind Airbus... Even Iran is flying old Western aircraft
- kragen 2y agoLast year Ukraine wasn't particularly worried the US would cut off military aid, Romania wasn't particularly worried the US would paint it as a poster child of failed democracies, and Denmark wasn't particularly worried the US would annex Greenland. The world is unpredictable.
- notahacker 2y agoNah, Ukraine knew Trump had an excellent chance of winning and was likely to cut off military aid, and the rest of the world was well aware that a Trump return would mean more moronic threats and trash talking. Trust me, we're not rushing out to buy shitty Russian aircraft as a hedge.
- throwaind29k 2y agoThey have the MC-21 under development as well, though not much information seems available.
- drysine 2y agoThey are producing MC-21 without engines waiting for the PD-14 to be ready. We will see in a couple of months if the engine's problems have been solved.