Ahead of the upcoming BRICS summit in Delhi, Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) on Thursday inked initial agreements to supply 85 turboprop Il-114-300 regional aircraft to Indian entities Pinnacle Air and Sleek Aviation, according to Russia’s state-owned defence and industrial conglomerate Rostec, the parent of UAC.Both Rostec and UAC are sanctioned by the US as part of its economic sanctions campaign against Moscow due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which has nudged Moscow to look at friendlier markets like India for sales as well as potential collaborations. Last year, the UAC inked a memorandum of understanding with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) to manufacture its SJ-100 regional jets in India. Negotiations to ink a formal licensing agreement for the SJ-100 are learnt to be underway.The agreements for the Il-114-300 planes inked on Thursday are not firm orders yet, and can be described as formalisation of the buyers’ interest in the regional aircraft. UAC hopes to convert them into firm orders by the end of the year. The Il-114-300 can seat up to 68 passengers.“A letter of intent was signed for the delivery of 50 aircraft to Pinnacle Air. A memorandum of understanding was signed with Sleek Aviation for the delivery of 35 aircraft, as well as the opening of a training center with a full-flight simulator at the operator’s facility,” Rostec said in a release. The initial agreements were signed at the Russia-India trade event INNOPROM.India in Delhi.Both the potential Indian customers of the Il-114-300 aircraft currently don’t operate airlines. It couldn’t be immediately ascertained if the two entities are looking at entering India’s regional airline segment.Pinnacle Air is a charter helicopter operator, and its operations also include aviation consulting and aircraft sales and management. Sleek Aviation is a Gurugram-based company with aviation sector entrepreneur and former Indian Air Force pilot Dilawer Singh Basraon as a director. Basraon had founded pilot training company Flight Simulation Technique Centre, which the Adani group acquired earlier this year.“India has significant potential for developing regional air travel, and the Il-114-300 is well suited to expanding the route network and improving transport accessibility. The agreements reached today confirm Indian airlines’ interest in the Russian aircraft and open up new opportunities for our cooperation,” said Gennady Abramenkov, Russia’s deputy minister of industry and trade.Story continues below this adAccording to Rostec, the Il-114-300 is a completely Russian-made aircraft, with everything from its avionics to engines manufactured at its facilities. Rostec believes that the turboprop aircraft, which is comparable to the ATR-72-600, would fit well in India’s plan to push regional aviation growth through the UDAN scheme. In addition to passenger transportation, the aircraft can be used for mail and cargo delivery, as well as medical and rescue operations, according to Dmitry Lelikov, deputy director general at Rostec.According to Rostec, aircraft delivery schedules, as well as maintenance conditions and obligations for localisation of certain Il-114-300 components, are planned to be set out in separate contracts with customers.“Today’s signings are the culmination of extensive work that began after the Il-114-300’s unveiling at the Wings…exhibition in January of this year. We saw strong interest in this aircraft from local operators, and today this interest was formalized in agreements. We plan to conclude the first firm contracts by the end of this year. As our cooperation develops, we are prepared to move forward and transition to an industrial partnership for service, maintenance, personnel training, and even localization of Il-114-300 production in India,” said UAC chief executive Vadim Badekha.According to aviation sector analysts, the Russian aerospace industry has had a chequered past with failed aircraft launches. The situation has worsened over the years due to lengthy production delays, shortages of various components, and financial pressures primarily due to Western sanctions. The Russian aerospace and defence company was sanctioned by the US in June 2022 — in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — as part of Washington’s action against Russia’s military-industrial complex. Others that sanctioned PJSC-UAC included the European Union, the UK, Canada, Switzerland, and Japan.Story continues below this adAlthough India has been politically opposed to unilateral sanctions, Indian companies have usually refrained from violating such sanctions, particularly when they are imposed by the US, due to the threat of secondary sanctions from Washington.As for the SJ-100 MoU between UAC and HAL, if the pact materialises, the aircraft could become the first passenger jet to be fully manufactured in India, which harbours the ambition to become an aerospace manufacturing hub. India has been pushing global aircraft manufacturers to set up final assembly lines (FALs) for passenger jets in the country, given India’s status as the world’s third-largest domestic aviation market and the fastest-growing major aviation market globally. While announcing the MoU, did not give any timeline for the project.According to some industry watchers, there could be complications in manufacturing the SJ-100 aircraft in India even if secondary sanctions are not a risk factor. That is because of severe restrictions imposed by Western powers on Russia’s aerospace manufacturing sector and the consequent supply chain issues affecting Russian manufacturers’ access to Western components. Moscow’s aircraft manufacturers are developing planes with only Russian parts, but those projects are grappling with delays, as per reports from Russia.The SJ-100, earlier known as the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) — is a regional jet with a flight range of 3,530 km, and can carry up to 103 passengers. Other aircraft in its segment include the likes of Embraer E190 and the Airbus A220.