Russia still has the opportunity to create a new long-haul wide-body airliner based on the Il-96-300 and Il-96-400, and the rejection of the Tu-334 at one time was a serious mistake of the domestic aviation industry. This conclusion was reached by Honored Military Pilot of Russia, Major General Vladimir Popov.
These are magnificent aircraft, although they do not fit into the current concept of civil aviation development, as they have four engines.
The aviation expert believes that the emergence of new power plants based on the PD-35 may change the assessment of these aircraft.
Another option for the development of Russian civil aviation was linked by the expert to the Tu-334. The aircraft was developed during the collapse of the USSR, and in the 1990s, about a dozen machines were manufactured. The project did not reach full-scale serial production, after which the development of passenger aviation followed the path of creating the Superjet with broad international cooperation.
Popov believes that the rejection of the Tu-334 in favor of a new international program subsequently created additional problems for Russian aviation. The Superjet's design used foreign components, including part of the engine and avionics, so after the introduction of sanctions, dependence on foreign suppliers became a serious limitation.
At the same time, the expert also drew attention to the characteristics of the Tu-334 itself. According to him, the aircraft's fuselage was noticeably wider than that of the Superjet-100, which provided more spacious passenger accommodation.