Uzbekistan Airways to cease operating IL-114-100 aircraft

The national airline Uzbekistan Airways has decided to cease flying their IL-114-100 aircraft. They will be replaced with Airbus A320ceo/neo. Uzbekistan Airways has refused to comment on this matter. A representative from the Uzbek civil aviation authority said that the national carrier will offer the IL-114-100 for rent.

The Uzbekistan Airways fleet comprises six IL-114-100s equipped with PW-127H engines from Pratt & Whitney Canada (registration numbers UK-91104, UK-91105, UK-91106, UK-91107, UK-91108 and UK-91109), which were built between 2006 and 2012, and delivered to the airline between 2008 and 2013, according to documents from the Tashkent Aviation Production Association, also known as TAPOiCh (after the famous aviator VP Chkalov), now called the Tashkent Mechanical Plant). All six IL-114-100 are designed to carry 52 passengers.

According to the sources at the Uzbek civil aviation authority, there are only three of these IL-114-100 in a flight-ready condition; the rest of the aircraft are in maintenance or storage. Personnel involved in aircraft operation and maintenance will be retrained and this process has already begun. The withdrawal from scheduled service of these turboprop aircraft may occur in the next month or two.

An industry representative noted that these turboprops had insufficient capacity and said the withdrawal of IL-114-100 aircraft from the Uzbekistan Airways fleet should not be linked to any technical questions: "Of course, there are problems with the after-sales service of these machines, for example, Ilyushin could provide better support. But on the whole, all issues with these aircraft have been solved”.

In the summer of 2015, the IL-114-100 of Uzbekistan Airways delivered a regular domestic schedule to Bukhara, Karshi, Navoi, Termez, Urgench, Nukus and Fergana; as well as flights to nearby CIS countries. The duration of the shortest flight (Tashkent-Navoi) was 55 minutes, the longest (Tashkent-Nukus) was 2 hours 20 minutes.

The industry representative said that the IL-114-100 will be replaced by Airbus A320ceo/neo. In addition, the airline will purchase Embraer business jets for private charters.

Uzbekistan Airways is the world’s only remaining commercial operator of IL-114 aircraft. However, it is too early to talk about the end of these Uzbek aircraft. The national carrier plans to lease them. For example, the Kyrgyz carrier Air KG is showing an interest in them. Air KG is the subsidiary airline of OJSC "Manas International Airport", which is the airport operator in Kyrgyzstan.