The MC-21 plane is billed as a competitor to Boeing and Airbus
MOSCOW, Aug 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia is set to unveil its new passenger plane MC-21, billed as a competitor to Boeing and Airbus even as the project is overshadowed by sanctions and setbacks with its predecessor, the Superjet.
President Vladimir Putin formally opened the MAKS air salon outside Moscow with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was enticed with Sukhoi fighter jets and treated to ice-cream as demonstration squadrons roared overhead.
The showpiece of this year’s MAKS is the new civilian aircraft, which will be formally shown to potential clients after more than a decade in the making and multiple delays.
Putin lauded Russia’s aircraft builders and their “unique traditions” which permit the country to “remain among the flagships of the global aerospace industry” and produce “breakthrough projects” such as the MC-21 and Mi-38 and Ka-62 helicopters.
The salon is the first since Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), a conglomerate of the country’s main civilian and military aircraft makers, was put in the hands of state-owned corporation Rostec last year.
The handover, to be formally completed next year, was billed as a way to steer the industry toward more streamlined management and kindle new airplane projects.
Russia will also showcase for the first time its Su-57 fighter on Wednesday.
The medium-haul MC-21, which is produced by Siberian-based manufacturer Irkut and seats up to 211 passengers, is the industry’s big hope after setbacks with the regional Sukhoi Superjet 100 liner, launched in 2011 as the first post-Soviet civilian airplane.
Though it was supposed to be put in service at the end of 2018, Rostec chief Sergei Chemezov said this year the first MC-21 planes will be delivered to Russian state-owned Aeroflot airline only in 2021.
The first batch of MC-21 aircraft were also to be equipped with US-made Pratt & Whitney engines, according to a contract signed before the sanctions blocked further deliveries.
The three variants on show at Wednesday’s salon use the American engines, while future production will use Russian-made PD-14 engines.
Sanctions against Moscow, gradually introduced since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, have hit several Russian industries, and Rostec and Chemezov were put on the US Treasury’s sectoral sanctions blacklists.
Russia’s previous, much-lauded Superjet was initially well-received but many clients later backed out due to difficulty in servicing it and getting parts replaced.
Several accidents also contributed to a poor image for the plane, most recently in May, when 41 people died in a fire after crash landing with full fuel tanks in Moscow. The investigation into the accident is ongoing. — NNN-AGENCIES
