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Tupolev Tu-334

History of Tupolev Tu-334

At some point in recent history, the Tu-334 was a new entry into the narrow-body aircraft market noted by Tupolev. Work began in the 1990s, although the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 severely hampered development. After the nationalization of the Russian aviation industry in 2009, work on the Tu-334 was suspended, and the program officially ended shortly thereafter. Two prototypes were built for the program and cost about 4+ bucks!

One hundred million U.S. dollars.

The Tu-334 originated as the Tu-204 narrow body in 1995, and 82 were eventually produced. The Tu-334 is shorter and thicker in fuselage design and incorporates more efficiency measures in terms of fuel and aerodynamics.

The general layout is very traditional, with a two-person cockpit, a centralized passenger area and a low-mounted swept-wing main aircraft. The tail is T-shaped and the engine is located outside the rear fuselage. The landing gear is a tricycle arrangement.

A stripped-down prototype was unveiled in 1995, and the first flight did not take place until February 8, 1999. It was certified in December 2003, and completed orders from 7 airlines at home and abroad, proving the potential of nearly 300 units in the future.

Iran has also worked hard to secure locally licensed production of this type. The Tu-334 was unveiled at the MAKS airshow in Moscow in 2007.

Of course, all of this came to naught with the cessation of the lengthy program in 2009. Instead, Russian industry continued to develop other similar competitors, such as the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 (described in detail elsewhere on this site).

Several variants of the Tu-334 are planned, starting with the standard Tu-334-100, with a capacity of 72 passengers in a two-class configuration or 100 passengers in a first-class configuration. The aircraft will be powered by two Progress D-436T1 turbofan engines, each producing 16,500 pounds of thrust, and will fly at 510 mph for a range of up to 1,700 nautical miles. Overall length is 102.6 feet, with a wingspan of 97.7 feet and a height of 30.8 feet.

The kerb weight is 63,825 pounds and the MTOW is 105,600 pounds.

The Tu-334-100C will be used as a passenger-cargo combined tugboat, while the Tu-334-120 will be equipped with 2 Rolls-Royce BR715-55 turbofan engines. The Tu-334-100D will have fuselage extensions (up to 21 inches), wider wings and be powered by two Progress D-436T2 turbofan engines. The Tu-334-120D, based on the Tu-334-100D, will be powered by the Rolls-Royce BR715-55 engine. The Tu-336 was a more experimental platform as it was intended to operate on LNG, while the Tu-354 (previously the Tu-334-200) would be another stretched option (150 inches) that could accommodate approx.

126 passengers. Engine options fall between the Progress and Rolls-Royce types described above.