By Viktor PUZHAICHEREDA, The Day
The airfield of the Gromov Test Flight Institute at Zhukovsky, near Moscow,
has held a presentation of the first new-generation Tu-334 aircraft equipped
with D-336T1 engines developed by the Zaporizhzhia-based Progress design
bureau and manufactured at the Motor-Sich PLC.
Tu-334 chief designer Igor Kalygin said this aircraft is to replace
the Tu-134, out of production since 1984. A joint project for the former
was already drawn up a decade ago. The Tu-334 was designed as a medium-haul
aircraft with a range up to 2,000 kilometers.
Work has been in fact completed on this 102-seat plane, the first in
a pilot series of five, rolled out at Zhukovsky. Also in the pipeline is
a 110-seat and even a 126-seat version.
According to Mr. Kalygin, the project is very promising. Orders for
200 planes have already been received from 24 air companies. One liner
costs up to $40 million. However, these are only dreams so far, for the
whole program requires from $80 to $100 million. Only given such investment
the aircraft may be put into serial production in two and a half to three
years.
If the situation is normal, 40% of the orders for the engine will be
received by Motor-Sich. Vyacheslav Bohuslayev, general manager of Motor-Sich,
commenting on the Zhukovsky show, noted that Ukraine badly needs this kind
of aircraft. For we are a European state, and foreign countries are reluctant
to let in our old airplanes with their obsolete engines.
