A handful of charter and corporate operators still fly Tupolev Tu-134 regional jets outfitted with VIP interiors. They will benefit from the Russian Air and Space Force’s recent decision to keep the type’s special-mission derivatives in service through to 2023. To be able to keep its aging jets intact, the military has talked the Kremlin into instructing local industry to provide repair and overhaul services on the type’s vital systems until the model's retirement.

The last of 854 airframes in the production run came out in 1989. Of those, more than 30 remain in service worldwide, including about a dozen with civilian organizations. This year on May 21, Russia’s Alrosa performed final scheduled service on the type in the country, leaving Air Koryo and Syrian Air as the only airlines in the world that still operate the Tu-134 on regular passenger routes. Meantime, Moscow-based air-taxi company Meridian—which operates an ACJ320, Gulfstream G450s, and Challenger 605s—continues to run a single Tu-134VIP (RA-65737). In addition, corporate airline Kosmos-Air keeps three such jets, one of which, RA-65944, was seen taking off from the Vnukovo airport when the RUBAE 2019 business aviation trade shw was closing on September 13. A pair of Tu-134VIPs remain in service with the Kremlin’s carrier “Rossiya.”

Explaining the reason behind keeping their Tu-134VIPs intact, Meridian general director Vladimir Lapinksy and Cosmos head Vladimir Kamynin said that these prove irreplaceable for charter services to remote destinations inside Russia and into neighboring countries in Asia. With their rough, Western jets cannot safely operate or are not allowed to by the local administration. At the same time, the old jet cannot compete with dedicated business jets on most of the frequently flown routes due to high fuel burn and noise levels. This prompted Moscow-based Sirius Aero, an air-taxi charter company and longstanding Tu-134VIP operator, to replace three such aircraft in 2018-2019 with the Challenger 601/850 series.

In his turn, Sergei Popov, general director at Perm Motors, told AIN that although the manufacturer discontinued making the Soloviev D30 series III in 1992 (3,050 copies built) this engine’s gas-generator is still in production for industrial applications, such as electric power generation and natural gas pumping. So, new parts are available for the powerplants on in-service Tu-134s. Besides, Perm Motors keeps a few used but still operable engines as replacements or as a source of parts that have been discontinued.