Irkut to roll out first of the MC-21 family on June 8, 2016

Irkut announced that it will hold the official roll out of the first MC-21 300 aircraft, designated for flight testing, on June 8. According to Mr Ole Demenchenko, Irkut Corporation’s president, “Construction of the first aircraft is the significant milestone of the MC-21 program. We are looking forward to greet at Irkutsk Aviation Plant delegations of our partners, current and prospective customers, representatives of federal and regional authorities.”
The mid-range narrow-body MC-21 300, which will be powered by the Pratt & Whitney PW1400G engine, is aimed at the same sector of the market as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, having a standard 180-seat configuration. At the Paris Airshow last year Demenchenko made it clear that Irkut was not aiming for parity with the two other manufacturers, but felt that there was sufficient demand for that size of aircraft, and that just a small slice of the market would still make the rollout of this aircraft a financially viable proposition. The MC-21 300 is the first of a family of aircraft planned, with the 150-seater MC-21 200 to follow. There were plans for a 220-seat MC-21 400 which was more aligned to the Boeing 757, but those have since been shelved.
In February this year it was reported that Irkut considered Iranian airlines to be potential buyers based on comments made by a spokesman on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow. In late January Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov indicated that discussions were ongoing about the possible involvement of Iranian aircraft building infrastructure in the production of components for the MC-21s, with a subsequent purchase of MC-21s.
The spokesman also said that “MC-21 is making ground in many countries of the world. However, the corporation is currently focused on its initial Russian customers.” Irkut plans to sell up to 1,000 MC-21 jets within the next 20 years, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.