The Ilyushin Il-114-300, new regional turboprop airliner currently under development in Russia, successfully landed after its maiden flight.
The test was conducted at Zhukovsky airport (ZIA) on December 16, 2020, a press release by state-owned corporation Rostec states.
The aircraft was equipped with domestically-made Klimov TV-117ST-01 engines. Various operational regimes of the engine as well as stability of the aircraft and functioning of its systems were tested.
According to Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov, the new aircraft is going to be certified by 2022 and enter mass production in 2023.
It can land on unpaved runways and is intended primarily for hard-to-reach northern regions of Russia. Therefore, a number of regional carriers are interested in the development. The launch customer of the new plane is going to be Polar Airlines from Yakutsk.
The company also states that there are going to be numerous special versions of the airplane, including patrol, medical and research ones.
The Il-114-300 is a further development of the base Il-114, created in the Soviet Union in the 80s. Its production was stopped in 2012, but resumed again with an intention to create new, re-engined and modernized version.
The prototype of the aircraft uses an airframe left unfinished since 1994. Another prototype, built from the ground-up, is currently in production.
According to the manufacturer, the production version of the Il-114-300 will have cruising speed of 500 km/h, flight distance of 5000 kilometers and service ceiling of 7600 meters. It will be able to transport up to 68 passengers.