A total of 270 MC-21 aircraft (or MS-21 in Russian designation) are planned to be produced by 2030, according to a presentation by Oleg Nesterov, Deputy General Director of Yakovlev, which was shown at the Moscow Aviation Week at MAI.
As can be inferred from his presentation, the production of up to 142 SJ-100 aircraft and 115 Tu-214 aircraft by 2030 is also planned. In addition, the construction of another 70 Il-114 aircraft is foreseen, reports our affiliated media, Aeroin.
At the same time, a completely Russian MC-21 aircraft with domestic systems will be manufactured in 2024.
By August 2022, the Irkut MC-21 had already largely freed itself from Western inputs, which almost completely disappeared from Russia as a consequence of the country’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions received.
Currently, more than 36 aircraft systems need to be replaced, including the auxiliary power unit, fuel and hydraulic systems; 33 systems are already in the testing phase. The SJ-100 aircraft has similar data: 37 systems need to be replaced, and all of them are already in the testing phase.
The MC-21 is a medium-range and new generation aircraft, with a capacity of 163 to 211 passengers. Among its innovations, it features a wing with greater span and made of composite materials. Additionally, the domestically produced Aviadvigatel PD-14 engines that will power the MC-21 compete in fuel consumption, noise levels, and emissions of harmful substances with Western mechanics of the same category.
In January, it was announced that serial production of the MC-21 would begin in 2025. To make the aircraft accessible to Russian airlines, the government announced this year that its price will be calculated through a subsidy mechanism that would set the price of each MC-21 at around USD 37 million, less than half the list price of its Western competitors, the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo families.
