Russia’s new mid-sized airliner, the MC-21, is not expected to go into serial production until 2025 or 2026, reported Russian news agency Interfax quoting Sergey Chemezov, head of Rostec, the government-owned technology conglomerate that is managing the aircraft program.
According to Chemezov, the testing program is still ongoing and there is not yet a specific date for its completion.
Rostec was originally planning to have started deliveries of the MC-21 to the state-owned Aeroflot group in 2022, but the date was then pushed back to 2024 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions. Aeroflot was then expected to receive the first six aircraft before the end of 2024, but this is no longer the case.
The MC-21-300 version of the aircraft received its type certificate from the Russian aviation agency back in 2021. However, the Pratt & Whitney engines that it was originally using are now set to be fully replaced by Russian-developed PD-14s (“ПД-14s”), which has added further delays to the MC-21 rollout program.
According to reports appeared in the Russian media, as of December 2023 there were 18 MC-21 airframes at several stages of completion, including several fully completed aircraft that have been conducting test flights since 2017. Rostec has stated an aim to build 72 aircraft per year by 2029.