Flight International 2022 10.pdf

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FlightGlobal.com
October 2022
INSIDE
Gulfstream
G400 cutaway
Sanctioned Aeroflot
buys local
p12
Chinese alloy use
halts F-35 line
p30
Heart of
the matter
Can Swedish developer transform how we fly?
p6
Warsaw packed
Big-spending
Poland wants
96 Apaches
p32
Upwardly mobile
UK’s Vertical
Aerospace is
ready to rise
p60
9
£5.25
770015 371334
1 0
Comment
Remember the good old days?
Putin’s progress
Ukraine-related sanctions seem to have
finally forced Aeroflot into fulfilling the
Russian president’s desires for
a domestically-built fleet
MisledD/Shutterstock
R
ussian President Vladimir
Putin once expressed his
dissatisfaction with Aeroflot
Group’s fleet choices while
grilling then-chief Vitaly Saveliev,
who was forced to explain why the
flag carrier was overwhelmingly
using Western rather than domes-
tically-built aircraft.
“I want to understand how many
Russian aircraft Aeroflot is going
to buy,” Putin told him during the
face-to-face meeting in 2010.
Saveliev’s mentioning that Aer-
oflot was still using a few Ilyushin
Il-96s, while Rossiya was acquiring
half-a-dozen Antonov An-148s and
domestic consolidation would bring
other Russian aircraft into the group
fleet, did little to pacify Putin, who
was prime minister at the time.
“It’s not enough,” he told Save-
liev. “You want to dominate the
domestic market but don’t want
to buy domestic equipment. That
won’t do.”
Putin’s opinion appeared – not
surprisingly – to have its intended
effect. Aeroflot subsequently sig-
nalled that the Irkut MC-21, more
Superjet 100s, and other Russian
types would make up a substantial
proportion of the group’s fleet.
But Aeroflot Group’s opera-
tional restructuring, outlined two
years ago, suggested the com-
pany had not fully embraced the
domestic industry. Under the plan,
Russian-built aircraft – including
Aeroflot’s Superjets – would be
shunted to Rossiya, for inter-re-
gional service, while Aeroflot, the
more high-profile carrier, would fly
Airbus and Boeing models.
With Ukraine-related sanctions
imposed on the Russian air trans-
port sector, all assumptions on
which the fleet strategy was found-
ed have been overturned, and gov-
ernment-controlled Aeroflot Group
is dutifully fulfilling Putin’s ambi-
tions for a Russian fleet restora-
tion by committing to almost 340
domestically-built aircraft – but
decide among yourselves whether
this is genuine affection or postur-
ing in the face of having few alter-
natives. Tupolev Tu-214s have been
available for decades, after all.
There is also reasonable scep-
ticism over the feasibility of pro-
ducing aircraft in such numbers.
Fifty single-aisle deliveries per year
might seem a cakewalk given that
this amounts to a month’s work
for either Airbus or Boeing, but it
nevertheless presents a ramp-up
challenge for the Russian aircraft
industry, especially since the do-
mestically-powered variant of the
MC-21 is yet to be certified.
Rostec chief Sergei Chemezov
has claimed Airbus and Boeing are
unlikely to deliver aircraft to Russia
again, although such rhetoric from
a close chum of Putin – one invest-
ed heavily in the success of the
aircraft industry – can probably be
taken with a shot of vodka.
Given that some of the larg-
est Russian carriers – such as S7
Airlines and Ural Airlines – exclu-
sively operate Western types, the
most interesting scenario is wheth-
er Aeroflot’s apparent new-found
enthusiasm for Russian aircraft be-
comes contagious if the condition
of Western fleets starts deteriorat-
ing in the short term.
As for Saveliev, who rose from So-
viet hydroelectric engineer to senior
banking and government figure, be-
fore taking over as the head of Aer-
oflot, any doubts over his loyalty to
the Russian aircraft industry do not
seem to have harmed his career. Af-
ter he left the flag carrier, Putin ap-
pointed him minister of transport.
◗
See p12
October 2022
Flight International
3
In focus
Heart Aerospace scales up for
30-seat hybrid-electric ES-30
6
Boeing battles Max hiccups
8
Bern finalises $6bn F-35 deal
10
Emirates president Tim Clark
renews call for updated A380
11
Back to the USSR?
12
Pegasus ready for combat
15
Project Heart swells as fresh
funding enables expansion
20
USAF sparks next-generation
engine competition
24
Coulson crash pinned on
windshear
28
Chinese alloy use halts F-35
deliveries
30
Warsaw to buy 96 Apaches
32
Rolls-Royce exits Boom
35
6
Bigger and better
Heart Aerospace stretches ambitions with ES-30
FlightGlobal.com
October 2022
INSIDE
Gulfstream
G400 cutaway
Sanctioned Aeroflot
buys local
p12
Chinese alloy use
halts F-35 line
p30
50
Heart Aerospace
Heart of
the matter
Can Swedish developer transform how we fly?
p6
Warsaw packed
Big-spending
Poland wants
96 Apaches
p32
Upwardly mobile
UK’s Vertical
Aerospace is
ready to rise
p60
9
£5.25
Regulars
Comment
3
Best of the rest
44
Straight & Level
76
Letters
78
Jobs
81
Women in aviation
82
4
Flight International
October 2022
770015 371334
1 0
Contents
In depth
Curtain up
48
This year’s NBAA convention
in Orlando is sure to be
memorable
Long-range leaders
50
Developers of new business jets
respond to soaring demand
Sweet spot
54
Gulfstream’s G400 will offer a
4,200nm range and large-cabin
comfort
On the rise
60
Can Vertical Aerospace deliver
on its eVTOL potential?
Fresh thinking
66
Carriers back technologies
vital for zero-emission flight
Full throttle
72
How Cold War tensions pushed
aircraft beyond the speed of
sound
66
54
72
00
October 2022
Flight International
5

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