Kazan Aviation Plant (KAZ) produces passenger Tu-214s through manual assembly. This refers specifically to production for a particular customer, explained Viktor Martynov, head of Premier Aero.
In his opinion, KAZ is capable of delivering four aircraft in 2026, but with an important caveat.
I think this will be manual assembly for KPI reporting. The indicator of conveyor assembly will be reaching the stated volumes after 2027. With the current workload, the plant physically cannot handle several configurations in parallel. Rather, it will be piece-by-piece assembly for each customer.
First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov noted that the docking of the Tu-214 wing used to take up to four months, but has now been reduced to just over two weeks.
Stanislav Ryzhakov, former director of the Ulyanovsk branch of Tupolev, explained that there is no other technology, even at Airbus, besides jig-and-fixture assembly.
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.
