Russia’s Superjet Fleet Faces Growing Sustainment Issues
The CEO of SSJ-100 operator IrAero is concerned about the supply of the jet’s Franco-Russian SaM146 turbofan.
Russian MRO providers have learned how to repair just 20% of imported part numbers for Superjet 100 regional jets, the representative of the type’s manufacturer Yakovlev revealed during a recent roundtable with Russian lawmakers.
Foreign suppliers for the Superjet stopped supporting the program in 2022 after Western countries imposed sanctions against Moscow in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Since then, local companies have only been able to repair 178 out of the 903 imported part numbers for the type, Yakovlev said.
Among the successes, the manufacturer disclosed that domestic repair of Superjet’s hydraulic tanks made by U.S.-based Parker and the RD-4000 weather radar made by Honeywell are now both possible. The Superjet’s Michelin tires have been replaced by local products from Barnaul-based tire manufacturer YaShZ Avia. Balashikha-based manufacturer Rubin Aviation has started to supply brake plates to substitute Goodrich components.
Yakovlev said Russian companies that could potentially repair 453 more Superjet components have been found. These companies have confirmed the capability to maintain 318 of those, but no firm contracts have yet been signed. Seven more part numbers can be serviced in so-called friendly countries.
Yakovlev has assembled 213 Superjets since 2011, but only 168 of them remain operational. In Russia, 145 Superjets fly regular passenger services, while 19 more are used for government or corporate flights. Just four SSJ100s are operated by foreign owners—three aircraft by the Royal Thai Air Force and one by Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee.
It remains unclear how widespread the domestic maintenance achievements have become. The largest operator of the type, Rossiya Airlines, confirmed to Aviation Daily in mid-November that it had put Russian tires on only 55 of its 78 Superjets. The carrier did not mention whether it is yet using locally made brake plates.
According to Yakovlev, the Superjet fleet logged a record total flight time in 2022, totaling more than 254,000 hr. Russian airlines deployed the SSJ100s on international routes at that time due to the restrictions imposed on their leased Western-made aircraft. But the monthly flight utilization rate started to shrink in the third quarter of 2023.