The Russian SJ-100 airliner is almost ready – all that remains is to combine the two planes

"SuperJet" with domestic engines will soon fly. It became known that the 100% import-substituted SJ-100 will take to the air in March of this year. It will have Russian PD-8 engines.


Two SJ-100s are currently being tested. They are half-import-substituted, although they are far from identical. The first is an airliner made almost entirely of Russian components and parts. But the most important thing about it, the engines, are foreign-made. These are French SaM-146 power units.

The second airliner, on the contrary, was made according to a pre-sanction scheme. But it has domestically produced engines. These are improved PD-8.


Engineers who are working on the modification of the power units are confident that they are ready for installation on the SJ-100. Moreover, the PD-8 engines have already passed a series of tests on the Il-76 flying laboratory. As it turned out, this aircraft made at least two dozen flights.

Accordingly, it remains to "make friends" between the SJ-100 and the PD-8. The process has already started - currently, the airliner with Russian engines is being prepared for ground tests. And the SJ-100 will take to the air in March 2025. At least, that is what is planned.

The use of two partially import-substituted airliners at once helps speed up the process of preparing the SJ-100 for serial production. Without the SaM-146 engined model, we would have to wait until the PD-8 had passed all the tests.

That is, the first flights of the airliner would have begun only in March. Accordingly, at least another year would have been needed to test other Russian components and systems. And so, the latter were tested and "made friends".

The second Superjet, which is currently being prepared for ground tests with PD-8 engines, was built back in 2018. Only the SaM-146 engines were removed. Everything else is “native”, that is, pre-sanction.


Rostec is currently planning to test this SJ-100. Ground tests for now, then flight tests. The next stage is the assembly of a fully import-substituting airliner with PD-8 engines. By the way, the latter was recently presented to the public at the NAIS 2025 exhibition.

As for plans for serial production of the SJ-100, it is scheduled for 2026. At that time, the first airliners will begin to arrive in customer fleets.

The main thing is that everything goes according to plan. And the manufacturer has already collected a portfolio of orders for the SJ-100 for several years to come.