Russia unveils passenger plane to rival Boeing, Airbus
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia on Wednesday presented a new medium-range passenger plane that state media said is superior to its Western-made counterparts in many respects and will be snapped up by both Russian and foreign carriers.
In a glitzy ceremony at a factory in Siberia attended by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Irkut Corporation rolled out its new MC-21 passenger plane. It is still undergoing testing but is due to enter serial production next year. The plane is sometimes also known as the MS-21.
Medvedev hailed the new twin-engine short- and medium-range aircraft as “cool,” saying it was important that Russia remained in what he called the top league of aircraft makers despite the high costs involved.
Squeezed by Western sanctions over its role in the Ukraine crisis, the Russian government is trying to rejuvenate domestic industrial production to make the country less dependent on foreign firms.
“I only want to say that I am absolutely certain that the airliner will be the pride of Russian civil aviation and that our citizens and foreign people will take pleasure in flights on MC-21,” Medvedev said.
The plane will be built in two variants, the MC-21300, which will have 160 to 211 seats, and the MC-21-200, which will have 130 to 165 seats. Deliveries are expected to start in 2018, and state media said numerous contracts with domestic and foreign carriers had already been agreed to.
State-controlled United Aircraft Corporation, of which Irkut is a subsidiary, said the new plane would be able to service routes of up to 6,400 kilometers and that its operational costs would be up to 15 percent cheaper than current-generation aircraft.
“It is not made of metal. It is made of composite materials,” Irkut Corporation vice president Vladimir Valkov said. “That allows us to give it a special shape. It is much lighter and stronger, so it is a great step in the development of our aviation industry.”