Russia’s new-generation Il-114-300 regional turboprop has completed a major phase of its certification campaign with a series of Arctic test flights designed to validate operations in extreme northern conditions. The trials were conducted from airfields on the Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land archipelagos, taking the aircraft to latitudes close to the 80th parallel and reportedly within about 100 km of the geographic North Pole.
During the campaign, crews evaluated the aircraft’s general flight characteristics, cold-weather performance and behavior in complex high-latitude navigation environments. Particular attention was given to the BINS-2015 inertial navigation system developed by KRET, whose accuracy and reliability were assessed in regions where satellite navigation can be less stable. According to Ilyushin managing director Daniil Brenerman, the tests confirmed the Il-114-300’s suitability for sustained operation in Arctic regions.
The Il-114-300 is a twin‑engine regional airliner designed to carry up to 68 passengers and operate from remote and rough airfields, using domestically produced TV7-117ST-01 engines. The Arctic sorties form part of a broader certification roadmap that also includes high‑temperature trials and evaluations on unpaved runways scheduled for later this year. Data gathered during the northern flights will feed into the aircraft’s overall certification effort as Russia positions the type to replace aging Soviet-era and foreign regional aircraft on domestic routes, including in the Far North.