A passenger can trust Airbus and Boeing for years and yet completely misjudge the safety of the new MC-21 or SJ-100. In reality, the decisive factor is not the name on the board or the age of the aircraft, but how a specific liner is operated and maintained, aviation expert Roman Gusarov explained to "Pervy Tekhnichesky".
According to him, the problem is primarily psychological. People often trust foreign brands like Airbus and Boeing because they have formed an impression of their high reliability over the years.
I don't choose the aircraft, I say, I choose the airline. The condition of a specific aircraft depends on how the operator maintains it. If the aircraft is certified, then by definition it is reliable.
Gusarov added that the MC-21 and SJ-100 should be evaluated not by the principle of "new - therefore dangerous," but by actual operation and quality of service.
The head of OAK, Vadim Badeha, noted that domestic passenger liners are capable of occupying up to 100% of the Russian aircraft fleet, completely displacing foreign equipment from Boeing and Airbus.