The newest Russian airliner MS-21 made its first flight. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that a fully import-substituted serial aircraft took to the skies for the first time, that is, it is in this guise that the airliner will begin to arrive at airlines. However, the deadline has been shifted to 2027. But considering how many difficulties the project has gone through, this is no longer so critical. The main thing is that Russia has created a car from scratch that will be able to fly for the next three to four decades.
The first serial fully import-substituted MC-21 aircraft flew from the airfield of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said in a statement. The flight took place on August 3, it lasted 1 hour and 23 minutes at an altitude of up to 6 thousand meters at instrument speeds up to 600 km / h, the flight mission was completed in full.
The UAC confirmed its readiness to ensure the production of the first batch of 18 aircraft. The MS-21 flight program is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of next year, and to receive a certificate by the end of 2027. The first customer will be the Airport Group, which has booked more than 200 such aircraft.
What makes this flight different from the previous ones?
"This is the first flight of a production airliner, that is, an aircraft in the form in which it will be produced for the next decades. Mass production deployment is a single process. And in parallel, the second one is underway – the certification of the machine, in which pre–production aircraft carry out a program of certification flights," says the head of Avia.<url>" Roman Gusarov.
"For the first time, the car was lifted into the air not as a prototype, but as an aircraft as close as possible to those aircraft that will be supplied to customers. Secondly, it is the flight of an instance that is assembled using serial technologies, with those systems and assemblies that should go to the next airliners for airlines.
Thirdly, this flight means that the plant really knows how to make a mass-produced product. This is a sign that the project has come close to serial production and transfer of the aircraft to airlines.",
– explained Dmitry Baranov, a leading expert at Finam Management Management Company.
The postponement of the transfer of the first aircraft to the customer, Aeroflot, from the end of this year to the next is no longer critical, Gusarov believes. This plane has a difficult fate as it is.: The West began to put a spoke in the wheels long before 2022.
The aircraft started to be developed in 2009, the cycle of the creation of such liner – is typically a decade, and the Board flew in 2017, and in 2019 it is planned to complete the certification. However, in 2018, the United States imposed sanctions on the manufacturer of the composite wing for the MC-21, and certification was postponed to the end of 2020, and the start of deliveries to Aeroflot was postponed to 2021. In 2022, the Americans stopped supplying their engines for the aircraft, and then total sanctions were imposed on the supply of any equipment.
"Under the conditions of sanctions and one hundred percent import substitution, the deadline shift is no longer so critical. No one in the world has ever solved such a problem. Now Boeing is a big international designer, and Airbus is even more so. And every last rivet is domestic. The main thing is that we have received planes that will carry us for the next 30-40 years. After all, an airliner is being built for many years to come. The MC-21 is the world's only aircraft in its class, built from scratch in the 21st century. It has a huge potential for disclosure, it will change and modernize over time," said Roman Gusarov.
According to him, if there were no sanctions, Russia would gradually replace half of the fleet of MC-21 analogues with domestic aircraft, but there would still be competition within the country with other suppliers.
"But we were shown how they can "land" us overnight, deprive us of the sky. And Russia cannot live without aviation. We are not Poland, which can be crossed by car in a few hours from border to border. It's a longer drive to St. Petersburg. We need our own aircraft, fully import-substituted",
– says the head of " <url>".
According to him, Russia needs about 620 MC-21s within 10-15 years to replace foreign aircraft, and if the market develops and passenger traffic grows, then even more.
The MC-21 is in the niche of the most popular and popular aircraft in the world. "Aircraft of this type carry the lion's share of passenger traffic: 80% of flights are operated by medium-haul aircraft from the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 family. The MC-21 is to replace them. 620 aircraft is half of our entire aviation fleet in the country," Gusarov points out.
According to the latest data, the production plan is to produce 36 aircraft per year by 2030. Moreover, later dates were mentioned earlier. "This will be a great result, as Russia has never produced so many aircraft in the 21st century," Gusarov notes.
It is quite possible to implement the plan if the plant increases output gradually, doubling every year. So, if in 2027 the production will amount to four aircraft, in 2028 - eight aircraft, in 2029 - 16 aircraft, then in 2030 – already 32.
Whether this will be enough to meet the needs of the market depends on the resource of those aircraft that airlines currently have, and how long they will be able to fly. If necessary, the Irkutsk plant can reach the maximum production rate, which was originally planned – 72 airliners per year. The question is whether the market will show such demand.
Olga Samofalova
