Tupolev Tu-204 / Tu-214

No passenger has died on a Tupolev Tu-204 or its sister the Tu-214. Up to 7 October 2026, the family's one fatal accident was a ferry flight with only crew on board. But the fleet is tiny, with about 620,000 passenger flights in total, so a clean passenger record says less than it would for a common type. Four aircraft have been written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary, and the investigations point to crews, maintenance and training rather than to a single design flaw.

What the Tu-204 is

The Tu-204 is a twin-engine narrowbody of about 210 seats, Russia's answer to the Boeing 757. It first flew in 1989 and entered service in 1996. It has fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary controls and a glass cockpit, and most aircraft use Russian Aviadvigatel PS-90A engines. A few, the Tu-204-120 and -220, have Rolls-Royce RB211-535 engines. We could not confirm full envelope protection, so it sits with third-generation jets in our methodology. The Tu-214 is a heavier, longer-range version built in Kazan; the Tu-204SM is an update with a two-pilot cockpit.

Only about 90 have been built over more than 30 years, and about 20 are in service. Red Wings has flown the largest airline fleet, Air Koryo flies it from Pyongyang, and Russian government fleets use the Tu-214. In 2022, after Western sanctions cut Russian airlines off from new Airbus and Boeing jets and from their parts, Russia announced plans to build more Tu-214s in Kazan, with Aeroflot named as a customer. Until those aircraft fly in numbers, few travellers will board one.

The fatal accident: Red Wings 9268

On 29 December 2012, a Red Wings Tu-204-100V flew empty from Pardubice in the Czech Republic to Moscow Vnukovo with eight crew. The approach was unstable and too fast in a gusting crosswind of up to 29 knots, and the aircraft touched down about 950 m along the runway on one main gear. Because both main gear legs were never compressed together, the ground spoilers did not deploy and the thrust reversers stayed closed. The crew selected full reverse in one movement, and with the reversers locked, the engines produced forward thrust instead. The aircraft left the end of the runway at about 215 km/h, hit the embankment of the M3 motorway at about 190 km/h and broke into three. Five of the eight crew died.

Investigators blamed badly adjusted reverser controls after an engine change, the crew's handling and weak training and checks at Red Wings. A similar Red Wings Tu-204 incident at Novosibirsk nine days earlier had not been acted on. Because it was a ferry flight, it does not count in our passenger rate.

Non-fatal accidents

• 14 January 2002, Sibir Airlines: both engines stopped at 1,000 m during a diversion to Omsk. The aircraft slid off the end of the icy runway; all 145 on board survived and it was repaired.
• 22 March 2010, Aviastar-TU: an empty ferry flight crash-landed in a forest short of the runway at Domodedovo in poor visibility, with a faulty flight control computer, after the crew continued below minimums. All eight crew survived.
• 24 August 2016, Aviastar-TU: a cargo Tu-204 bounced and landed hard at Norilsk, damaging the wing beyond repair.
• 8 January 2022, Aviastar-TU: a cargo Tu-204 burned out at Hangzhou after a cockpit fire started when the first officer tested his oxygen mask during pushback. All eight crew got out.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight trackers show the ICAO code T204; some list the Tu-214 as T214. It looks much like a 757, with two large engines under a long, slim fuselage, but has small winglets. The record of the airline flying it, and of its maintenance, matters more here than the type.