The new Russian aircraft MC-21-310 has export potential, but it remains to be seen during operation. This was reported to "Perviy Tekhnicheskiy" by aviation expert Roman Gusarov.
According to him, customers from abroad will come only after several years of operating the aircraft within Russia. However, now the main goal for the airliner is to meet the needs of air travel within the country, the specialist emphasized.
I think that in the next 10 years, MC-21 will not be available to foreign customers, we need them ourselves, we need to provide for our airlines. If the aircraft proves during this time that it is worthy of competing with Boeing and Airbus, then everything will happen naturally, we will not need to prove anything to anyone. Customers themselves will start to be interested if it is a good aircraft.
Gusarov recalled that Aeroflot has already ordered 200 aircraft, but it will need much more. The expert did not rule out that the airline will take the entire volume that the United Aircraft Corporation is capable of producing.
On Thursday, November 27, at the airfield of the Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky, the operation of the second MC-21-310 aircraft with domestic control system drives was tested. The crew checked the stability and controllability of the aircraft.