The Tatarstan airline UVT-Aero plans to purchase two Tu-214 passenger aircraft in 2024 and two more in 2025. About this writes the local edition “Business Online”.
The aircraft, which will be put into service next year, will be able to accommodate up to 178 people, while the liner’s business class will be designed for 16 seats. Tu-214s purchased in 2025 will be able to carry 182 passengers. Each aircraft will have one business class and two economy classes, differing in passenger seat spacing. The leather-covered seats of the new liners are more comfortable and lighter than on the previous versions of the Tu-214.
There will be three crew members in the cockpit. According to the CEO of the company Petr Trubaev, the presence of a flight engineer among the pilots will have a positive impact on flight safety. In addition, this specialist will monitor control panels and the control of individual control systems inaccessible to pilots.
In this regard, it is important to note that the new aircraft will perform very long-haul flights – to airports in the Far East at a distance of up to 6500 km, as well as to the resorts of Egypt and Turkey . The geography of Tu-214 flights will expand over time.
The airline has begun selecting crews for new planes. Trubaev specified that the two pairs of Tu-214s would require 10 crew each. At the same time, Bombardier CRJ200s will continue to be part of the UVT-Aero flight fleet, which should only be replaced by domestic aircraft in 5-7 years.
