Six MC-21 Passenger Jets to Be Manufactured in 2021

Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) announced on Tuesday that the company is planning to build six MC-21 airplanes in 2021.

"We have planned to manufacture six MC-21 planes in 2021, twelve in 2022, and 25 in 2023. It is planned to bring the MC-21 output to 72 a year by 2025,"  Valery Okulov, adviser to UAC’s director general, was quoted as saying by TASS.

Commercial sales of these planes are planned to be kicked off in 2021. The plane is currently undergoing trials and will be certified in Russia in 2020. The certificate will be later validated for the European market.

The company is currently developing two new modifications of the aircraft, namely MC-21-200 with 165 seats and MC-21-400 with up to 250 seats.

On October 28, Russian state media reported Malaysia had signed a "soft" (non-binding, no advance payment) contract for the supply of 10 MC-21 aircraft at the stage of preparation for its serial production.

The current order book for the planes stands strong at 175 confirmed orders. Russia’s flagship air carrier Aeroflot has a contract for 50 of these planes.

On Tuesday, Vitaly Savelyev, CEO of Aeroflot, announced plan to open new long-range international flights to India's Goa and Mumbai, China's Chengdu, Japan's Osaka and Singapore.