Irkut MC-21 Airliner To Get Locally-made PD-14 Engine In 2019

Irkut Corporation, the manufacturer of Russia’s first narrow-body commercial aircraft, confirmed that the first flight model of MC-21 will be equipped with the advanced locally-made PD-14 engine in 2019.

"In 2019, we’ll have plane No.1 or No.2 [the MC-21 flight models] equipped with the PD-14 home engine. We will be ready to start flight tests for this engine by around 2020," the corporation’s President Oleg Demchenko was quoted as saying by TASS at Thursday’s meeting on civil aviation development.

Thus, according to the corporation’s head, the new Russian aircraft will use two types of engines - the American Pratt & Whitney and the advanced Russian PD-14 designed by the United Aircraft Corporation.

Demchenko also said that as per the schedule Irkut plans to produce 30 MC-21s in 2019 and 70 planes per year in 2020-2023, once the equipment purchase issue resolves.

"We are ready to manufacture 30 planes a year. It all is quite clear, and we know how to do it. Still, we plan 70 planes a year, and so it is necessary to tackle the issue of purchasing equipment," he said.

MC-21 is the first Russian-made narrowbody commercial passenger aircraft designed in the post-Soviet era. The program was launched in 2007 and is headed by Irkut, a subsidiary of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation. The flight prototype was rolled out in June 2016.

The MC-21’s first flight in May was powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1400G engines. The alternative Russian powerplant – Aviadvigatel PD-14 is to be certified in 2018.