Final Tu-154 to roll off the line in 2002

Published: 4/24/2000

Despite recent orders for the aircraft from the President of the Ukraine, the owners of aircraft producer Aviakor, Siberian Aluminium, have decided to stop production of the Russian airline"s workhorse, the Tu-154M in 2002. The decision is not a surprise given the plant"s earlier intention to cease production in 2000 and the relatively low flow of orders. The new general director of the Samara based plant Victor Petrizhev has said that the producer would now focus on the production of the An-70 and the An-140 instead of the Tu-154 and also mentioned reviewing alternative businesses involving the production of clothing. For the Tu-154 it is the end of a thirty year run that began with the first production of the Tu-154A in the late sixties at Kuybyshev, the previous name of the Samara plant, going into service in 1972, with over 606 aircraft produced by the mid eighties in various variants. The latest variant the Tu-154M was developed in the early 1980s and 324 were built bringing total production to 930 aircraft by the end of last year. Despite the large number of Tu-154s in service, the acquisition of the plant by industrial holding company Siberian Aluminium in 1998, found the plant in poor shape and while efforts to integrate the 31 units in the enterprise proved initially successful under the previous general director Karklin, orders for new aircraft proved to be elusive and the vast majority of activity related to upgrade and repair of aircraft. Petrizhev has said that the factory will continue to repair Tu-154s of which a large number remain in service, although the 500 stated by Aviakor appears to be overly ambitious given the condition of the Russian air transport sector. The plant plans to produce 12 aircraft from components held in inventory before ceasing production, with 4 due to be completed this year. It should be stated however, that none of these aircraft are new builds being one of the 15 semi complete aircraft currently in the plant and are simply being finished off. The end of the aircraft"s production is also being accelerated by aircraft from foreign operators such as CSA, who recently sold 2 aircraft to Bashkir Airlines for a reported $1.5m each compared with the negotiable $8m for a new aircraft. These aircraft and others form China have substantial lives left on their airframes, reported to exceed 10 years, removing potential new buyers for the aircraft. Unlike his predecessor Andrey Karklin, Petrizhev has decided to diversify the plant production and is currently looking at a number of non-aviation options for his facilities. He may be anticipating what does not look a great outlook for the plant"s future given that the An-140 currently has only 8 orders and the An-70, although a programme with strong prospects, still has to see government commitment in Russia and the Ukraine to launch production.

Article ID: 1575