There are no technical limitations to producing the Tu-214 with a two-person cockpit, but investing money without guaranteed demand is irrational. Gennady Abramenkov, Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, explained the economics of producing updated airliners.
According to him, converting the Tu-214 to a two-person cockpit will require, among other things, revising documentation and new flight tests.
All of this is quite costly, and it should only be done if we understand that we have a guaranteed large order.
Media reported that the cost of converting the Tu-214 without a flight engineer is estimated at approximately 20 billion rubles. S7 company was interested in these aircraft, but as of September 2026, there is no firm contract with "Tupolev" yet.
Aviation expert Roman Gusarov explained to "Pervy Tekhnichesky" that producing even five Tu-214s per year would be a huge success. The Kazan Aircraft Plant still has many operations that have not been automated.