Light aviation in Russia performed almost 194,000 flights in a year, and the total flight time of light and ultralight aircraft exceeded 753,000 hours. Now, authorities are preparing changes to the rules that should simplify the industry's operations and make the use of small aircraft more accessible. These figures were presented by Deputy Minister of Transport Vladimir Poteshkin at a meeting on the development of light aviation.
Light and ultralight aircraft are now used not only for private flights
Light and ultralight aircraft are now used not only for private flights, the Ministry of Transport reminded. Light aviation plays an important role in the life of remote areas. It transports passengers and cargo, assists in aviation work, fights forest fires, is used in agriculture and pilot training. In addition, light aviation develops tourism and aviation sports.
Excursion flights, in particular, can become a tool for developing domestic travel within Russia.
Almost 200,000 flights and thousands of pilots
According to the Ministry of Transport, by mid-2026, Russia will have more than 11,000 private pilots, almost 700 ultralight aircraft pilots, and over 5,500 commercial pilots who are cleared to fly light aircraft.
Specialists are trained by 38 aviation training centers.
Promising developments in light aviation
Among the promising Russian developments in the light aviation segment are the "Baikal", "Tango", twin-engine "Akkord-201", and Borey amphibian aircraft.
The Ministry of Transport considers light and ultralight aircraft as an important part of the country's transport system. Such aircraft should help increase population mobility, develop domestic tourism, and improve connectivity between territories.
Rules for aircraft to be simplified
One of the main directions of change is the update of the regulatory framework. The Ministry of Transport reported that work on new rules is ongoing in cooperation with Rosaviatsia and representatives of the aviation community.
Specifically, it is proposed to simplify aircraft certification, optimize transportation requirements, and eliminate duplicate regulations for operators.
Due to their specific use, light and ultralight aircraft require a separate approach, as they differ from large civil aviation, the department explained.
Public services instead of paper applications: Russia may speed up aircraft registration procedures
As of March 1, amendments to the legislation on state registration of rights to aircraft and transactions with them came into force. Now applications can be submitted electronically through the public services portal.
The transfer of information about landing sites to electronic format is also continuing.
In addition, the Ministry of Transport proposes to simplify the process of obtaining certificates for light aircraft operators. It is planned to reduce the list of required documents and shorten the application review period from 60 to 50 days by submitting through public services.
New aircraft to receive more flexible admission rules
Authorities pay special attention to supporting Russian developers of light and ultralight aircraft.
It is planned to change certification rules: in particular, to abolish mandatory certification for development organizations that are not engaged in commercial transportation.
For certain categories of aircraft, it may become possible to admit them to operation based on conformity assessment.