It has become known when the Russian import-substituted airliner MC-21 with the domestic PD-14 engine will go for flight tests. The MC-21 was scheduled to be delivered to Russian airlines in 2024, but the Cabinet later postponed the delivery dates to 2025.
According to IA TASS, which refers to the press service of the aircraft manufacturers, Yakovlev is already preparing for flight tests before the certification of the MC-21.
It is planned to begin flight tests of the MC-21 aircraft in an import-substituted configuration before the end of 2024. After a series of flights as part of the factory refinement tests, the MC-21 prototype will begin certification tests under the import substitution program.
56 main suppliers are working on creating components for the import-substituted aircraft, plus about 20,000 enterprises are involved in cooperation throughout Russia.
It was previously noted that Russia will produce up to 36 MC-21 liners each year. However, only nine of them will be assembled by the end of 2025.
The MC-21 has had its first firm contract with Aeroflot since September 2023 for the supply of 18 aircraft between 2023 and 2025.
Later, in 2024, it became known about Aeroflot's plans to abandon leasing dozens of SJ-100 and Tu-214 in the coming years due to significant delays in their certification and production. The carrier plans to order another 339 MC-21s by 2030 instead.
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