Aircraft
MC-21 Serial Production Delayed Until 2021
Russian officials site sanctions and a need to switch to local suppliers for the Irkut narrowbody’s schedule slip.
The fourth MC-21 prototype undergoes final assembly in Irkutsk. (Photo: Irkut)
The fourth MC-21 prototype undergoes final assembly in Irkutsk. (Photo: Irkut)

“Well known complications” will delay the start of serial production of the Irkut MC-21 until 2021, according to Yuri Borisov, Russia’s first deputy prime-minister responsible for the country’s military industrial complex. Speaking with local media while visiting the site of the narrowbody’s final assembly line in Irkutsk, Borisov further noted that the first MC-21-300 (the 12th in the production chain) using “serial technologies” would carry indigenous PD-14 turbofans.