Indian firms sign preliminary deals for 85 Il-114-300 turboprops at INNOPROM India

Pinnacle Air and Sleek Aviation, two Indian companies, signed preliminary agreements at the INNOPROM India exhibition in New Delhi on September 10, 2026 to acquire a combined 85 Ilyushin Il-114-300 turboprop aircraft. Pinnacle Air signed a letter of intent for 50 aircraft, and Sleek Aviation signed a memorandum of understanding for 35 aircraft that also includes plans to build a training center with a full-flight simulator.

United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), a subsidiary of Russia's state-owned Rostec group, said it aims to convert both preliminary agreements into firm contracts before the end of 2026. Delivery schedules, maintenance arrangements, and commitments to manufacture certain components in India remain subject to separate negotiations. UAC Chief Executive Vadim Badekha said discussions accelerated following the aircraft's appearance at the Wings India exhibition in January 2026, and the company is seeking cooperation extending beyond aircraft sales into maintenance, training and potentially local production.

Neither Pinnacle Air nor Sleek Aviation currently operates an airline. Pinnacle provides helicopter charter and other aviation services, while Sleek is headquartered in Gurugram; it is not yet clear whether either company intends to launch a regional airline. The 68-seat Il-114-300 is designed to serve smaller cities on routes that do not require larger jets and can operate from airports with limited infrastructure, using Russian-built engines and avionics. The design revives a Soviet-era aircraft that first flew in 1990, of which only 20 were built before production ended in 2012; the updated variant completed its first flight in December 2020. These agreements follow a preliminary deal signed in January 2026 by India's Flamingo Aerospace for six Il-114-300s, with deliveries expected to begin in 2028.

Letters of intent and memoranda of understanding signed at trade exhibitions are non-binding by nature, and this case shows the pattern clearly: three separate Indian entities have now signed preliminary paper for Il-114-300s without a single firm contract, delivery date, or operating certificate among them. Rostec is using the UDAN regional connectivity program as the commercial rationale, betting that demand for service to smaller airports with limited infrastructure will pull operators toward a turboprop that larger manufacturers have not prioritized for that route profile.

The segment's real test sits downstream of the signing ceremony: whether either Pinnacle Air or Sleek Aviation, neither of which runs an airline today, can secure air operator certificates, financing, and route allocations to actually fly the aircraft, and whether UAC can deliver the local-component manufacturing it is dangling as an incentive. A Soviet-era design with only 20 original units built and a 2012 production halt carries a thin operating history for any airline weighing spares support and maintenance continuity.

The next marker is UAC's own deadline of converting these letters into firm contracts before the end of 2026, alongside how the earlier Flamingo Aerospace order for six aircraft progresses toward its 2028 delivery target. Those two data points will show whether Indian buyers are willing to commit capital once the LOI stage gives way to binding terms on price, delivery slots, and maintenance support.