COLOGNE, GERMANY -- The Tupolev TU 204-120 CE model received its Type Certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The approval was handed over by Patrick Goudou, EASA Executive Director, and Dr. Norbert Lohl, EASA Certification Director, at a ceremony in Moscow, Russia.
Patrick Goudou praised the good collaboration between the two certification authorities, the Aviation Register of the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC AR) and EASA. "This is the first EASA approval for a transport aircraft designed by an organisation from the Commonwealth of Independent States," said Goudou. "I am confident it will serve as a model for future projects."
The TU 204-120CE is the cargo version of the TU 204. The fly-by-wire aircraft is powered by two Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4 turbofan engines and offers an "English-language cockpit," with operations documentation in English. Its maximum take-off weight is 103,000 kg, with a maximum payload of 27,000 kg.
The certification process for the TU 204-120CE began within the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and was taken over by EASA when the Agency was set up in 2003. A team of 20 certification specialists scrutinised the aircraft’s design to ensure that it complies with the Agency’s stringent safety and environmental standards, including over 100 technical meetings and several test flights by the Agency’s flight test team.
The EASA Type Certificate is valid throughout the European Union, as well as in Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, where the TU 204-120CE can now be legally registered and operated.
