The Tu-324 twin turbofan regional airliner still alive according to reports from the Kazan Design Bureau

Published: 8/4/1999

According to Russian media reports the Kazan Design Bureau of the ANTK Tupolev is continuing the development of a 50 seat regional airliner, the Tu-324R.Originally announced at the Paris Air Show in 1995, the program was the subject of a 50:50 funding agreement between the government of Russia and Tartarstan in late 1997. Little has been heard of the project since that date as Kazan sought scarce funding from domestic sources and moved away from its original foreign partners to find a Russian solution. According to Kazan's Georguy Samerkhanov, the aircraft will carry up to 50 passengers at the range of 2,500 km at the speed of 800 km/hour. The aircraft will be capable of take off and landing even from unpaved airfields. The design documentation for the aircraft will be available according to reports, by the end of this year. A further year will be required by KAPA to complete a prototype. The approximate cost of Tu-324 will be $10 mln. The source of the funding for the project are not disclosed the design bureau and given the lack of detail Concise is inclined to view the project as one of the many on the boards of the Russian design bureaux.

Article ID: 727