Published: 5/22/1998

Leonid Komm, senior vice-president for economics and finance at the Samara-based Aviacor factory told ConCISe that the company plans to terminate Tu-154 production in the year 2000. However, he added that if the total number of firm orders for newly-built airframes exceeds seven, then Aviacor might decide to continue Tu-154 manufacture for another two years. Presumably the rider was made to take consideration of the proposed Iranian contract for as many as ten aircraft, which was announced last year. Despite reports in the press about this contract as being "firm", the sides have never agreed on a price. Leonid Komm told ConCISe that Aviacor is "ready to sell Tu-154s to the Iranians, but their financial terms do not satisfy us. We will never sell them our aircraft on their current terms". Although Komm is rather pessimistic about the future of the Iranian contract, he says that "nothing is lost yet because I know they need aircraft in the Tu-154 class, but so far have not ordered any of the type". Meanwhile, the factory continues to fulfil the Slovakian contract for four Tu-154M aircraft. Komm says this deal was a "very clever move by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs", which talked the Slovakians into accepting civil aircraft as a means of paying off Russian state debts to their country. Last year Aviacor delivered the first Tu-154M, and then, at the end of March, added another one, specially configured for the Slovakian President. It has a specially-equipped cabin furnished by Israeli companies. The two remaining Tu-154Ms will be delivered by the end of this year. They will have an all-economy layout, but with modern seats and upholstery. All new Tu-154s will have the latest versions of the Rybinsk Motors D-30KU-154 engines, with additional noise reduction. In all, the Tu-154 production run has already exceeded 1000 units - the newset airframe currently under assembly has the side number 1022. The first airframes, powered by Kuznetsov NK-8 engines, entered service 26 years ago. "The majority ofthe Tu-154s built are still in service. The aircraft is the major workhorse in the CIS countries; it is responsible for more than half of all passenger traffic in the Former Soviet Union", Leonid Komm says proudly. In the last two years the Tu-154 production was 3-4 airframes a year, and during 1997 only two Tu-154s were exported. This low production rate led to a reduction in the workforce from 15,000 to 5,000. Although painful, these cuts allowed the factory to keep afloat. In order to find more work, Aviacor has started doing major overhauls on the Tu-154, which used to be was the responsibility of dedicated aircraft repair factories. Komm says in 1997 Aviacor overhauled 13 Tu-154s, and has plans to overhaul 14 this year. Commenting on the decision to terminate Tu-154 production, Komm says: "It is certainly not an aircraft for the 21st century". At the same time, the Tu-154 has proved rugged and reliable, which attracted the attention of "very special customers" such as Presidents of Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. They fly in specially-configured Tu-154s, as do some high-ranking Russian politicians. Komm says that Aviacor is about to get a new contract for a VIP-configured Tu-154 for the Kyrgiz President. "The contract is expected to be signed within a month; the aircraft is nearly completed, so we are able to deliver it within a few months", he adds. According to statistics from the Tupolev design bureau, the Tu-154s in civil service have logged nearly 21 million flight hours, showing better flight safety figures than the average for ICAO. Earlier Aleksandr Sheingardt, chief designer for the Tu-154 with Tupolev, told ConCISe that the type had one catastrophe per million flight hours when flying scheduled passenger services, which is 1.7 times less than the ICAO average.(IN598.2) (VK)  

Article ID: 157