India is about to start manufacturing passenger planes again after 37 years. Exciting, right? HAL and Russia's United Aircraft Corporation signed a deal on October 27 to produce the Sukhoi Superjet 100 – now rebranded as Yakovlev SJ-100 – in India. The government is hailing it as a game changer for regional connectivity and a major step toward Aatmanirbhar Bharat in aviation.

But let’s pause for a moment.

India urgently needs regional aircraft. The UDAN scheme has opened up smaller cities and towns, and projections suggest that over 200 such jets will be needed in the next decade. The last time India produced passenger aircraft was the AVRO HS-748, which rolled off HAL’s production lines from 1961 to 1988. Manufacturing planes again is undeniably historic.

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However, choosing the SJ-100 raises serious concerns. This aircraft is far from the world’s most........

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