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Russia's Irkut Corp. has shown, in its Irkutsk factory, the first completed MC-21 jetliner. It may be built in versions that carry about 130 to 211 passengers.
The company hopes to commence flight testing by the end of the year. As shown, the aircraft had a pair of Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1400G-JM geared turbofan engines, but when manufacturing begins in earnest, it may be equipped with the Russian-built Aviadvigatel PD-14, which is still in testing.
The aircraft is scheduled to mark its first flight in 2017 and is planned be handed over to its first customers in 2019-20.
The МС-21 family includes two aircraft with a high degree of design commonality. МС-21-200 designed for 132 to 165 passengers and МС-21-300 designed for 163 to 211 passengers.
Coverage:
- Business Insider
- TASS (owned by Russian government)
- Air Transport World
- Aviation International News
- Sputnik News (sponsored by Russian government; has video)
- Defenseworld.net (Tor-friendly copy)
- ChannelNewsAsia
- Pravda.ru
(Score: 4, Interesting) by richtopia on Thursday June 09 2016, @08:24PM
I don't think that Boeing or Airbus have any worries in Western markets, but across the world it looks like the duopoly in the short-mid range market may be threatened.
The MC-21 (article) looks competitive, coming from an established design bureau, although sourcing subsystems may be difficult being based in Russia. Orders are dominated by Russian airlines.
The C919 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comac_C919 [wikipedia.org] ) was covered on SN a few months ago. I think they have the contracts lined up for major subsystems (I think engines and avionics are being imported), and if you look at the list of orders there is sizeable demand, although all from Chinese airlines.
Embraer and Bombadier are scaling up their regional gets and may be also competing in this space soon. For Bombadier the C-series isn't quite at the same seat count as the 737 or 320, but is marketed as a competitor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_CSeries [wikipedia.org] ). Embraer's next generation also encroaches on this market ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_E-Jet_E2_family [wikipedia.org] ). These manufacturers already have their regional jets in many markets; I know that Delta (Connection) flies aeroplanes from both manufacturers.
(Score: 3, Informative) by turgid on Thursday June 09 2016, @08:33PM
That nice Mr Putin [youtube.com], in a characteristic selfless show of courageous intelligence and leadership, designed the MC-21 all by himself to get back at the Neo-Nazi Boeing and Airbus corporations threatening world domination and the end of democracy.
The MC-21 has top secret advanced anti-Neo-Nazi technology and is absolutely 100% heterosexual.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 4, Interesting) by mendax on Thursday June 09 2016, @09:25PM
Another Russian airliner no one wants to buy, although the Russian government has lately been forcing Aeroflot to buy Sukoi Superjets. Note that Aeroflot DOES NOT want them but has little choice. Passengers don't like them because they're more cramped than the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320. If the Sukoi Superjet is any indication, the MC-21 is not going to be bought by many non-Russian airlines [airfleets.net], although a Mexican airline seems to have bought a lot of them.
Now if the Russians can build an plane that Western airlines would want to fly, it would be a game changer. Russian airliners have a bad reputation which is mostly undeserved. They are solidly built, very sturdy, and very reliable. Most crashes of Russian airliners were due to pilot error or bad maintenance.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Thursday June 09 2016, @10:33PM
Yeah, except the Superjet is actually a joint venture and the important parts are built elsewhere, but sure, fuck sanctions, we can build everything ourselves. Not. Embarrassing, really.