The Tu-204 aircraft project never went into mass production due to the position of the former Russian authorities, who relied on the purchase of aircraft from abroad. This was stated by the former chief designer of the aircraft and its modifications, Oleg Alasheev.
According to him, there was a targeted policy of leadership at various levels against the Tu-204. At some point, the Superjet project appeared, for which they had not even built a single production line, and money was also required for the MC-21.
Work on the Tu-204 was mainly carried out due to the energy of the participants in the cooperation. But you can't break through a wall with your forehead. And now the project for the serial production of the Tu-214 is being slowed down.
Alasheev noted that he had met with former Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar several times. His main argument was the increased fuel consumption of the Tu-204 compared to foreign counterparts.
He directly said that the aviation industry is long and expensive and that he had already agreed with Boeing. At all meetings, I proved that this was not possible, that the Americans would cut off our oxygen in two seconds. And so it happened. Thank God, it's still in a more or less mild form, but we still fly through hell and high water today. By the way, everyone who came after Gaidar behaved in much the same way, to a greater or lesser extent.
To date, only 91 Tu-204 aircraft, including the Tu-204-200 modification, have been produced, of which only a few remain in operation.
Earlier, www1.ru reported that the manufacturer of the MC-21 and SJ-100, Yakovlev, suffered a loss of 4 billion rubles in 9 months of 2025.
