Maintenance: Russian airlines have mastered heavy forms of maintenance of foreign aircraft

Russian airlines have mastered the heavy forms of maintenance of foreign aircraft. The liners were previously supplied for repairs, including to Iran, but now there is no such need, Izvestia learned. Carriers extend the resources of foreign aircraft, such as Airbus A320 aircraft, to 96,000 flight hours, which is more than 30 years of operation and more than the manufacturer allows. But experts say there are continuing problems with the repair of engines for wide—body airliners, such as turbofan engines for the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777. Their repair in Russia has not been mastered, but there are few such boards in the country — about 100, experts add.

How long will foreign planes fly in Russia?

By the beginning of 2026, domestic technical centers had learned how to perform complex work to maintain the airworthiness of foreign airliners. We are talking about both the repair of equipment and engines, as well as the elements of the fuselage. The airlines told Izvestia about this.

At the end of 2025, S7 launched the second stage of the S7 Technics engine repair plant in Sheremetyevo, which reduced the recovery time by one and a half times and extended the service life of aircraft for another 8-10 years, the press service of the carrier told Izvestia. In the first quarter of 2027, another 9,000 square meter complex is expected to be commissioned in Novosibirsk, which will increase production capacity by 1.5 times.

Photo: TASS/Marina Lisseva

Since 2022, the S7 Technics division has repaired more than 400 engines for the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft families, of which more than 330 are for third—party Russian carriers, the press service said. This represents 40% of the total fleet of such engines operated in the Russian Federation.

"The main task now is to expand the list of components and engine types that we can repair in order to ensure technical independence and minimize downtime," the press service added.

The subsidiary provider Aeroflot Technologies has the necessary competencies and the material base to perform a wide range of maintenance forms, including the labor-intensive C-check on a 12-year form, the airline told Izvestia. To date, there is no need to send aircraft to Iran to carry out WHAT they added.

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They plan to certify the PD-8 engine in the summer.

In 2025, a separate company, Aerotrasttechnics, was established to repair power plants, which successfully passed certification and performed the first engine repairs, Aeroflot recalled.

Airlines at their bases are mastering technologies for the repair and maintenance of components and assemblies to maintain technical and technological independence from foreign suppliers, Ural Airlines told Izvestia.

— We are currently implementing a large—scale project, which has no analogues in Russia yet, to extend the life of Airbus A320 aircraft over 96 thousand flight hours. This extension applies to aircraft of our entire fleet, and the peculiarity of the work is a very extensive amount of work on disassembly and examination of airframe elements, with repairs, if necessary, and subsequent restoration," the carrier's press service noted.

Photo: TASS/Kirill Kukhmar

According to Ural Airlines, these are works on the study of structural elements of the fuselage, wing and tail, their renewal and necessary repairs as part of the extension of resources. The work is scheduled to start in autumn 2026 at the Aviation Technical Center.

Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin said during a government meeting on February 9 that, amid the expectation of supplies of mass-produced domestic aircraft, it was possible to form a fleet maintenance industry for foreign-made aircraft.

— In fact, a new industry has appeared, and we need to think about how to develop it, — said the minister.

He instructed Dmitry Yadrov, head of the Federal Air Transport Agency, to think about the issue of state support for repair enterprises.

Izvestia sent requests to the Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency.

Can foreign aircraft engines be repaired in Russia

— There are regulations for aircraft maintenance. A-check and B-check are simple forms, but there are also complex ones, such as C—check and D-check, which require partial disassembly of the aircraft," the editor-in—chief told Izvestia. Avia.ru Roman Gusarov.

A-check is a basic form of aircraft maintenance, when non—critical malfunctions are eliminated in 10-15 hours. Flaps, actuators, de-icing systems, interior panels, cladding, sensors and other elements are being checked.

The B-check is carried out every six to eight months and takes from one to three days. It includes deeper inspection of aircraft systems and testing of critical components, ensuring the reliability of equipment between capital maintenance.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Pavel Volkov

According to the expert, with C-check, the machine is decommissioned. Technicians remove chairs, upholstery, doors, and end-of-life equipment from it, ultrasound the fuselage's power structure, and then reassemble it.

"Previously, heavy forms were made in specialized centers of aircraft manufacturers, but now our carriers have mastered them," said Andrey Patrakov, founder of the RunAvia flight safety service. — Meanwhile, statements about the possibility of extending the life of Airbus A320 aircraft over 96 thousand flight hours are surprising, since the manufacturer himself defines this period at 90 thousand flight hours.

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What kind of airliners are we talking about and what fleet does the industry have today?

By the way, this is more than 30 years of operation, the expert noted.

— Now Russia repairs aircraft engines almost independently. S7 Technics returned more than 100 aircraft engines for medium—range aircraft to service in 2025," Anton Blik, an expert in the supply of complex technical products from Device Consulting LLC, told Izvestia.

However, problems remain with the repair of engines for wide-body airliners.

According to him, the biggest pain is Rolls—Royce Trent turbofan engines for the Airbus A330, Boeing 777 and 787 Dreamliners, as well as GE90 for the Boeing 777 and PW4000 for the Airbus A330. Their repair in Russia has not been mastered, which is why the restoration time is stretched. Attempts to overhaul them in Iran have not been successful, the expert said.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Lantyukhov

It so happened that we don't have many wide—body airliners - about a hundred sides, and until 2022 they were repaired mainly abroad, Roman Gusarov noted. Domestic specialists did not work closely with them.

— Russia does not produce turboprop engines of this size. The domestic analogue of the PD-35 is just being developed," said Andrey Patrakov. — The accumulated competencies and equipment in the territory of the Russian Federation are still insufficient.

But it also makes no sense to throw forces to master the repair of these engines, the expert believes. According to him, it is easier to develop your own new equipment, which in the future will replace foreign aircraft.

As Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Saveliev noted at a meeting of the final board of the Ministry of Transport in March, the share of domestically produced aircraft in the fleet of Russian air carriers should be increased to 50% by 2030. Today, the certification of the IL-114 aircraft is being completed, the industry is awaiting the completion of certification of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 and MC-21 with domestic PD-8 and PD-14 engines.