Only a third of Russian civil aircraft are produced in the country 0 8

Russian airlines will receive decommissioned old aircraft in 2026–2027 to support the growing passenger traffic, Rostec reported to Izvestia. This concerns 12 aircraft of various types — nine aircraft from the Tu-204-214 family, one An-148, and two Il-96. The restoration process began in 2022, and currently, 10 out of 12 aircraft have already been returned to service. Among the recipients of the aircraft are Red Wings and other companies.

At the same time, airlines are also decommissioning foreign aircraft. In particular, Rossiya plans to increase the number of operated two-deck Boeing 747s. Two such liners, which the company received after the bankruptcy of Transaero, are already flying. According to a source at the airline, a third 24-year-old aircraft will be restored in November 2025, and a fourth is planned to be put into service by 2027. These aircraft were put into storage during the pandemic, and their reconstruction may take place in 'friendly' countries, such as Iran, noted Anton Blik, an expert on the supply of complex technical products at Device Consulting LLC.

According to Rosaviatsiya data as of October 2025, the fleet of major Russian airlines comprised 1,088 aircraft out of 1,135 available, with 67% of them being of foreign manufacture.

The restoration of decommissioned liners is an attempt to address the emerging shortage of equipment, says RunAvia safe flights service founder and aviation expert Andrey Patrakov. In 2024, against the backdrop of a shrinking fleet, the limit of carrying capacity was reached: the average seat occupancy exceeded 96% during the peak summer period and 75% at other times. A slight decrease in passenger traffic in 2025 is directly related to the reduction of the fleet, noted Patrakov.

The head of Rosaviatsiya, Dmitry Yadrov, previously reported that by 2030, 230 Russian and 109 foreign aircraft may be withdrawn from airline fleets. Carriers have utilized 100% of operational aircraft, while 2–3% of aircraft are written off annually, and there is nowhere to obtain new ones, says Roman Gusarov, the editor-in-chief of the Avia.ru portal.

After sanctions were imposed against Russia's civil aviation in 2022, the government approved a comprehensive program for the construction of domestic aircraft to replace Western ones. According to the plan, the aviation industry was supposed to produce 127 aircraft of various types between 2023 and 2025, including Superjets, Il-114, and Tu-214. In reality, the civil aviation fleet has only been supplemented by 13 new aircraft — 12 Superjets and one Tu-214. Moreover, the latter is not used for passenger transportation: it is flown by Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters earlier.