MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation may increase the annual production of its Tu-214 planes to 20 such aircraft by 2026, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov told TASS in an interview.

"The possibility of increasing the serial production is now being considered. We came up with various configurations of production volumes, ranging between 10 and 50 aircraft every year. I will be suggesting the target of 20 aircraft per year. Going beyond this point will be costly and create a misbalance with the MS-21 project," said Manturov, who is also Russia’s industry and trade minister.

Russia’s first Tu-214 plane with a Russian-made PS-90A engine will be delivered next year, the Russian government official continued.

"The first Tu-210 plane is planned for delivery next year. Simultaneously, the UAC will continue fulfilling its contracts with special customers and governmental agencies, while commercial deliveries will be an addition to those [projects]," said Manturov, who is also Russia’s industry and trade minister.

Among the potential buyers is UVT AERO, an air carrier based in Russia’s Volga area Republic of Tatarstan. The company plans to buy four Tu-214 planes. A contract with Russian flagship air carrier Aeroflot envisages the delivery of around 40 planes by 2030.

Amid Western sanctions imposed on Russia, the refusal of European countries and the United States to service the already purchased foreign-made aircraft and supply new ones, the United Aircraft Corporation is significantly increasing the output of Tu-214 civil airliners. The Tu-204 baseline aircraft performed its first flight in 1989, but the collapse of the USSR and the subsequent underfunding of the aircraft industry prevented its large-scale production. In August 2022, UAC CEO Yuri Slyusar said in an interview with TASS that the corporation had decided to increase the serial production of Tu-214 aircraft up to ten planes per year.

Earlier, Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev told the Rossiya-1 TV channel that the Aeroflot airline considered the Tu-214 as one of the backbone aircraft for its fleet.