The new Russian PD-8 engine is 10% ahead of the SaM146 in terms of specific fuel consumption. This was announced by Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the Aviaport agency.
According to him, the task of PD-8's efficiency was set at the stage of the technical assignment before the start of development. As a result, it was successfully solved — for airlines, this is a significant expense item.
The domestic engine will be approximately 10% more efficient than the old Russian-French SaM146 engine. Therefore, replacing the old engine with the new one should increase the Superjet's fuel efficiency and reduce fuel costs.
Yegor Matyushov, a fitter at the Rybinsk ODK-Saturn plant, honestly admitted that the assembly of the PD-8 differs little from the SaM146. However, the requirements for the new power unit were even stricter.
"Pervyy Tekhnicheskiy" pitted the PD-8 and SaM146 against each other in a direct comparison and identified the strengths and weaknesses of each.