Russian government to invest over $14 billion in domestic aviation industry, wants 80% of civil aircraft to be domestic

The Russian government announced plans to invest over $14 billion in its domestic aviation industry by the end of the decade as the country tries to boost domestic aircraft production. The government’s goal is for 81% of aircraft operated by Russian airlines to be domestically produced by 2030.

Due to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has faced a growing aviation crisis that has left airlines unable to service western aircraft, scrambling to find parts, and have even started cannibalizing aircraft. Airlines such as Aeroflot have also seen the delivery of new western planes such as the A350 canceled; some airliners that were on lease to Russian airlines have also been repossessed, and some inside the country have also been seized. However, this is only a temporary solution as the Russian government has started to re-register these aircraft, allowing airlines to resume operations with them.

At the start of 2022, Aeroflot operated a fleet of 187 aircraft; of these, only ten were produced in Russia. Because of this and the sanctions on spare parts, the airline is looking to order 300 domestically produced Irkut MC-21 aircraft from the Russian United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).

It is worth noting that this announcement is only the latest in a series of moves by the Russian government aimed at propping up the country’s aviation sector. Earlier in the month, the government also said it would invest $1.74 billion in the country’s national flag carrier Aeroflot.

Also worth noting is that Russia will likely become independent in terms of civil aviation as it was in the past. The country has a long history of developing and building aircraft; while sanctions are a setback for airlines in the near term, in the long term, they will be beneficial to the Russian aviation industry, which has been ailing and in desperate need of financial support since the 1980s before fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.