FIELD: industrial organic synthesis. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a process of production of aromatic amines via gas-phase hydrogenation of corresponding amines having general formula I: R1 and R2 (I), where 
, identical or different, represent C1-C4-alkyl, in particular methyl or ethyl, hydrogen, or nitro group, on fixed-bed catalysts containing one or several metals selected from group including iron, palladium, precipitate, copper, titanium, vanadium, niobium, chromium, molybdenum, tin, antimony, and bismuth on ceramic carrier with BET surface below 40 sq.m/g at hydrogen-to-nitro molar ratio between 3:1 and 30:1, temperature in catalyst bed varying from 180 to 440 C. Loading of nitro compounds on catalyst is continuously or stepwise raised from 0.01-0.6 to 0.7- 5.0 kg/l per hour, maximum lading being reached after 10 to 1000 hr work. Process is commonly conducted on reactors wherein heat carrier is located inside tubes and catalyst is outside heat-carrier-containing tubes. It is also possible to use, as catalyst, (i) palladium on graphite or graphite-containing coke as carrier with BET surface 0.05 to 10 sq.m/g and palladium concentration 0.1 to 7% combined with (ii) catalyst containing one or several metals as described above on ceramic carrier, weight ratio of catalyst on ceramic carrier to catalyst on graphite carrier ranging from 1:1 to 1:1000. Catalyst beds can be diluted with inert charges and, if necessary, can have activity gradients. EFFECT: enhanced process efficiency. 4 cl, 1 tbl, 10 ex
