Commercial production of the Russian MC-21 airliner will begin in 2021, with 175 orders already secured for the aircraft, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said at the board meeting of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The new airliner’s trials were an achievement for the entire industry, he added.
MC-21 is a family of new generation passenger aircraft targeting the biggest segment of the global market for airliners. The MC-21-300 (160-211 seats) and MC-21-200 (130-176 seats) versions are now in the pipes.
Rostec head Sergei Chemezov earlier said the aircraft’s mass production was postponed until the end of 2020 due to the sanctions imposed on UAC subsidiary AeroComposit (MC-21 has a number of structural elements made from composite materials).