Kazan Aircraft Plant (KAZ) named after Gorbunov is preparing to accelerate the assembly of passenger Tu-214s. First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov noted that wing joining, which previously took up to four months, has been reduced to just over two weeks on the recently delivered aircraft.
However, Stanislav Ryzhakov, former director of the Ulyanovsk branch of Tupolev, noted that the slipway-assembly technology still remains the basis in aircraft manufacturing.
There is no other technology, except for slipway-assembly, not even at Airbus.
Ryzhakov explained that fuselages and large structural elements of both Russian and foreign airliners are assembled on slipways.
The transition to full-fledged world-class assembly lines requires digital production technologies, which are yet to be widely implemented in the domestic aircraft industry.
By the end of 2026, KAZ planned to build at least four new Tu-214s. However, at present, the plant has delivered only one airliner and another one is under assembly.