Progress believes price advantage will make it succeed in the regional jet market with the Tu-324 (1000 words)

Published: 9/19/2000

The first prototype of the AI-22 turbofan, to be used on the Tu-324 twin turbofan regional jet, has completed bench tests at the ZMKB Progress facility in Zaporozhye. The General Designer of Progress Fedor Muravchenko said that the 8532 lb AI-22 developed from the DV-2 engine by Progress and KMPO (Kazan Engine-building Production Organization). With KMPO invested investing over 80m rubles from its own funds in the development according to Progress. The news of the bench testing completion at Progress was somewhat of a surprise for Progress's partner KMPO, whose head of engineering Gennady Invanov said that he had expected to be invited to the final tests and had not been so. According to Ivanov the plant has been working on the preparation for production of the engine since they received the documentation in February of 1999 and are ready to start production. Components for the first engine were shipped to Progress in June 2000 and elements for the second engine will be shipped in late September or early October, with the third following shortly after. The three engines being the number required for testing and certification. Ivanov said that the plant has been investing its own funds in the programme since February 1999, and have invested more than 100m rubles to produce the components for the first three engines, which are to be assembled by Progress under the agreement between the two producers. Under the agreement, after certification KMPO will produce the engine for Russia and Progress for the Ukraine, although it is unclear who the customers for the engine would be in the latter market. Components for the engines will however, be produced by both manufacturers and according to Ivanov, KMPO produce more than 50% of the components. According to Progress the engine meets the ICAO requirements, has better fuel efficiency, higher power and lower noise levels in comparison with its predecessors. The AI-22's price is estimated at a little more than $1m, considerably less than the western engine discussed for use on the aircraft, GE's CF34-3B1 for the $10m aircraft. The twined engine 52 seat Tu-324 with scaled down Tu-204 wings, is planned to be produced by KAPO, and is targeted to replace Russia's aging fleet of Tu-134, An-24, Yak-40, of which 90% are expected to be grounded by 2005. Generating a potential market of 550-600 aircraft in Russia and the CIS, a potential emphasised by the recent comments of Aeroflot that they would potentially have to seek regional jets produced outside Russia in the absence of any suitable replacements to meet their growing regional servicing needs. The Tu-324 programme is still scheduled to produce prototypes by 2001, but the Tatarstan government has largely funded the programme in the absence of funding from the other partner, the Russian government. According to the adviser on the programme to the Prime Minister of Tatarstan, Nazir Kireyev , who has spent the last five months in Moscow at Tupolev sorting out the transmission of plans, the process is almost complete although a year later than earlier reported. With 99% of the plans having been transferred to KAPO already and the plant now in the process of tooling up for production and already made some preliminary manufacturing tests according to Kireyev. The plant plans to produce the aircraft by the end of 2001 and the certification will take place through 2002 and 2003. Commenting on the potential for the aircraft, Kireyev believes that the aircraft is inherently more attractive for Russian customers than its CIS produced competitors, the An-140 and the Il-114, due to the fact that it is a turbofan and produced in Russia. The latter point suggesting that Russian operators may see problems with an aircraft produced in the Ukraine or Uzbekistan, which given current conditions in the Russian aerospace industry appears rather high ground to adopt. As with other commentators, he says that the replacement of the fleet of regional aircraft is a pressing issue for all operators. Funding for the programme's completion however, remains an issue and currently KAPO requires the cost of about 12-13 aircraft or $130m, to put the aircraft into production. The only potential source of funding seen by Kireyev is the Federal Aerospace Programme 2001-2015. oWhich despite f sketchy details of investment priorities, Kireyev believes will give the programme its attention to the Tu-324 over the Il-114 and An-140. Progress's other major programme, D-436TP, will be certified in late September 2000, according to Muravchenko. Adding that the combined capacity of Russian and Ukrainian plants was capable of producing 150 D-436s a year for the Tu-334 and Be-200 programmes. To date 18 D-436Ts have been produced for the seven Be-200s ordered by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations under a contract reported to be worth $140m. Muravchenko commented the D-27 engine used on the An-70 is being largely financed by ZMKB and requires around $30m to complete its development. In 2000 $1m is committed to the engine by ZMKB, but there is still a further $1-2m to find. So far the plant has produced 15 D-27s, but the producer sees its potential volume being 6000 produced in Zaporozhye, Ufa, and Moscow. The prospects for the An-70 programme still continue to improve after its rejection by Germany, with the suggestion that China may have continuing interest and the large heavy cargo operators Volga Dnepr and Antonov, have recently argued that civil operation of the aircraft may precede its military adoption as a replacement for the large fleets of Il-76s.A view not universally accepted by other large operators such as East Line, who have opted for the PS-90 powered upgrade of the Il-76. One more engine - the VK-1500 engine developed by the Russian-Ukrainian ZAO VKMS ("Vladimir Klimov - Motor Sich) is expected to be certified by the end of 2000, according to the GD of Motor Sich Vyacheslav Boguslayev, The derated 1500 hp engine developed from the Klimov's TV3-117, has been produced for the helicopter market, particularly in Korea and as a power option on the An-38.

Article ID: 2080