First Russian-assembled Ilyushin-114 will fly in 2019

Ilyushin Il-114 operated by Russia's Vyborg airline at the 2000s (Photo by Fyodor Borisov / Transport-Photo.com)

The first flight of the Russian-assembled Ilyushin Il-114 passenger turboprop is scheduled for 2019 whereas the commercial deliveries are expected to start in 2021. Prior to 2012 the aircraft was manufactured in Uzbekistan at the Chkalov TAPO aircraft production facility in Tashkent.

“The first flight of the renovated Il-114 is scheduled for 2018. We hope we will be able to use the work-in-process inventory of the Tashkent factory. However, the 100% Russian-made aircraft is to fly in 2019,” Ilyushin’s general director Sergey Velmozhkin says in his interview to the TASS news agency.

According to Velmozhkin, the Ilyushin Design Bureau has already started capturing the design documentation as well as preparing the terms of reference for the aircraft modernization project. The all-new Ilyushin-114 will have to undergo additional certification. “In 2021 we will make the first commercial delivery,” Velmozhkin adds.

The head of Ilyushin also mentioned the manufacturer would be offering medevac, patrol and antisubmarine versions of the aircraft. The production will be arranged at the Sokol Aviaiton Plant in Nizhny Novgorod.

Ilyushin Il-114 is a 64-seat turboprop with the maximum range of 1500 km. The twin engine aircraft was designed in the 1980-s and performed its first flight in March, 1990. The Il-114 production program might receive up to 50 billion rubles of subsidies from Russia’s federal budget in 2016-2025.

So far neither Ilyushin nor its parent United Aircraft Corporation reported they had any orders for the renovated Ilyushin-114. Currently six Uzbekistan-assembled Il-114-100s are operated by the country’s flag carrier Uzbekistan Airways.