The medium-range Tu-214 aircraft, created on the basis of a Soviet project, currently have an advantage over the new MC-21-310 due to their ability to fly longer distances. This was stated by Maxim Pyadushkin, Managing Director of Aviatransportnoye Obozreniye.
He recalled that in December 2025, a Red Wings Tu-214 airliner replaced a Boeing 777 on the Yekaterinburg — Phuket route. To do this, it had to make an intermediate landing in Turkmenabad, but the aircraft's capabilities were enough for a flight of 4.9 thousand km.
And this may become its main advantage over the MC-21, an import-substituted version of which UAC plans to certify this year. On its website, the aircraft manufacturer indicates the same flight range for both models — 3800 kilometers. But for the MC-21, this is the flight range in a two-class configuration with 175 passengers on board, while for the Tu-214 — with a maximum commercial load of 210 passengers.
In addition, S7 airline signed an agreement with UAC for the supply of 100 Tu-214 units, but did not specify in what configuration — with two (without a flight engineer) or three crew members.
"Perviy Technicheskiy" contacted S7 with a request to clarify this point, but the carrier did not give a definite answer.