Twenty Aircraft per year Production Line for MC-21 Airliner

Irkut Corporation of Russia is setting up a 20 aircraft per year production line for its MC-21 commercial airliner project at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant (IAP).

The aircraft has received advanced orders of some 175 aircraft, mainly from Russia-based airlines.

Simultaneously, the target date for obtaining the Russian Type Certificate for the MC-21-300 aircraft is aimed for mid-2019 while the target date for EASA (European) Type Certificate is mid-2020. Some 1000 flights are planned as part of the schedule of certification flight tests.

Recently, the certification application for the MC-21-300 aircraft has been submitted to Russian certification authorities and EASA, an MC-21 program update statement from Irkut Corp said.

The MC-21 engine, the PW-1400G-JM has been certified in the Russian Federation, FAA and EASA. Certification tests are carried out at test-benches (total - 56 test-benches, tests are completed at 22 test-benches); qualification tests of materials have also been conducted.

The stations of the final assembly line are being put into operation in a phased manner with the capacity of about 20 aircraft per year with a phased output to the maximum level.

 In 2018, the construction of a MC-21 aircraft logistics center will be completed at the IAP.

Development flight tests and certification flight tests continue at the Flight Testing Complex of the Yakovlev Design Bureau (part of the Irkut Corporation), systems are being tested and software is being debugged.

Regarding prototype aircraft progress, the second aircraft is being prepared for transfer to the flight test unit, the third aircraft is in the final assembly shop (transfer to the flight test unit in 2018) while the fourth aircraft is at the stage of components manufacturing and fuselage sections assembly.