KAPO makes president’s plane for coast-to-coast flights

The KAPO aircraft manufacturer will at the end of March commission the first plane for the President of Russia team, told journalists the advisor to the Tatarstan prime minister Nazir Kireyev.

“By its performance, the plane – the Tu-214 medium-haul passenger jet – has no rivals across the world,” claimed Mr Kireyev. “The aircraft of the type has for the fist time been made able to fly higher than 10 thousand kilometers”. According to the advisor, the new airplane will be able to fly to New York and Tokyo without toppings.

“The designers have made the aerodynamically perfect machine able to fly even farther with the same engines,” emphasised the advisor. “The Tu-214’s capabilities make it the world’s leader among the same-type aircraft.” The Tu-204 300 was capable of making flights of 9 thousand kilometers but had to be made smaller. “In the Tu-214 for the presidential team we have left the size but it now makes flights of 10 thousand kilometers and more.”

Mr Kireyev assured that orders for the Tu-214 would be enough for three more years. “The price of the Tu-214 is double of the serial one,” the official specified.

“KAPO is now to manufacture the second product, the Tu-334,” shared Mr Kireyev. “We will have to fight for the Tu-334 [a short-range airplane] to be placed with KAPO.” According to the advisor, the Tu-334 is in demand both in Russia and abroad. “The airplane offers the best conditions of all the short-range airplanes for governmental purposes,” he is convinced. “No other plane, that can appear in the Russian skies, has such capacity, flight and operational specifications, especially for transporting members of the government. The Tu-334 is the best option for the Emergencies Ministry and the border troops.”

Nazir Kireyev went on to emphasise that up to 95 percent of the plane’s components were manufactured in Russia.

According to the advisor, the first Tu-334 prototypes are intended to be made in 2010, while serial production would be rolled out by 2012.