In an , Sergey Chemezov, the head of state-owned aerospace, engineering and defence conglomerate Rostec, said that the historical brand 鈥榊akovlev鈥� is to be revived for the whole family of Russian-made airliners. 

The renaming of Russian-made airliners has already been under discussion for a number of years, and Rostec renaming its commercial aircraft-making subsidiary Irkut as 鈥榊akovlev鈥� in July 2023 already pointed in this direction.  

Founded in the 1930s and currently under Rostec精东影业 umbrella, Yakovlev is one of the 鈥楧esign Bureaus鈥� active during the Soviet era, alongside other well-known names in the aerospace industry such as Tupolev or Ilyushin. The Yakovlev Design Bureau has continued to produce (mostly military) aircraft until the present day, with the Yak-130, an advanced trainer and light attack aircraft, being one of its latest products. Within the commercial aviation space, the Yak-42, a tri-engined jet for up to 120 passengers launched in the late 1970s, was the last serially produced Yakovlev airliner. 

In the same interview, Chemezov also said that he anticipated the shift away from Western-made aircraft by Russian airlines should become more noticeable by 2030, as it becomes increasingly difficult to service the existing fleet. He claimed that Rostec is gearing up to fill the gap with domestically produced aircraft types. 

In this regard, Chemezov confirmed the supply of 11 Tu-214 aircraft to Aeroflot. Rostec is currently working on the requirement from the Russian airline to reduce the number of pilots from three to two. 

According to Chemezov, the testing program is still ongoing and there is not yet a specific date for its completion. 

Rostec was originally planning to have started deliveries of the MC-21 to the state-owned Aeroflot group in 2022, but the date was then pushed back to 2024 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions. Aeroflot was then expected to receive the first six aircraft before the end of 2024, but this is no longer the case. 

The MC-21-300 version of the aircraft received its type certificate from the Russian aviation agency back in 2021. However, the Pratt & Whitney engines that it was originally using are now set to be fully replaced by Russian-developed PD-14s (鈥溞熜�-14s鈥�), which has added further delays to the MC-21 rollout program. 

According to , as of December 2023 there were 18 MC-21 airframes at several stages of completion, including several fully completed aircraft that have been conducting test flights since 2017. Rostec has stated an aim to build 72 aircraft per year by 2029. 

Speaking in front of a selected audience and viewers at home, the Russian leader said that the market is currently “overloaded” with planes manufactured by Airbus and Boeing. 

To rectify 搁耻蝉蝉颈补精东影业 over-reliance on foreign-made aircraft, Putin has announced a plan to build 1,000 passenger planes domestically by 2030. 

“We need to develop our own aircraft production [鈥 and we plan to make more than 1,000 of our own airplanes by 2030,鈥� Putin said. 

According to Russian news outlet , Putin plans to produce Irkut MC-21 passenger jets and switch over to Russian engines for certain aircraft. 

On December 14, 2023, the 鈥楧irect Line鈥� Q&A session and year-end press conference were held together rather than separately as in previous years.  

According to presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, this was to enable Putin to summarize the year精东影业 results in all areas at once. 

The Russian aviation industry has struggled to operate effectively since Western sanctions were put in place after Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine. 

Russian airlines have been unable to legally obtain the Boeing and Airbus parts that are desperately needed to keep their aircraft in good order.  

It is understood that, until now, Russia has relied on the black market to source parts and has even set out plans to manufacture replica Boeing and Airbus components.  

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• Defense

byIan Molyneaux

2023-12-14

Several photos of the first Irkut MC-21 narrow-body airliner painted with Rossiya livery surfaced online ahead of the aircraft精东影业 delivery.听听

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Aeroflot Group signs purchase agreement for 339 Russian-built aircraft

• Airlines

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2022-09-07

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• Aircraft

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The statement was reported by in a report published on October 12, 2022.  

“They [the manufacturer, ed.-] are only saying that they will produce it in 2025, [but] in 2025 they will actually produce almost nothing, they will only start ramping up production,” Fileva was quoted as saying.  

Fileva said the existing foreign fleet in Russia will continue to fly for the next decade or even longer.  

Russia publishes MC-21 renders in Lufthansa and American liveries

• Aircraft

byValius Venckunas

2022-08-31

“There will be a Russian fleet in the future, but how many airplanes do we have in the country right now? We have about 600 narrow-body planes alone if I’m not mistaken […] In other words, it won’t be replaced by starting to produce a few,鈥� Fileva added.  

She continued: 鈥淥f course, the foreign fleet should be flying for the next 10-15 years, then there will be time for Russian production to ramp up […] Of course they’ll start producing [Russian aircraft], it’s just going to be slow. And we, of course, will take the MC-21, we’d like to take it.鈥� 

Russia to produce 1000+ new airliners by 2030 鈥� Minister of Industry and Trade

• Aircraft

byValius Venckunas

2022-06-16

Western sanctions and delayed production  

The MC-21 was originally designed in the 2000s as the Yakovlev Yak-242. In 2007, the aircraft was renamed the MC-21 and the service entry date was set for 2016.  

While the plane made its first flight in 2017 and the first deliveries were scheduled to begin in 2020, the manufacturer failed to certify the jet on time, delaying the certification date until 2021.  

In December 2021, it was announced that the first delivery was planned for September 2022. At the same time, Aeroflot subsidiary Rossiya was announced as the launch customer.   

But then, in February 2022, after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the US and Western European countries imposed multiple sanctions on the country, severely impacting the operations of Russian carriers.  

Russia to resurrect an additional 11 airliners from its aircraft boneyards

• Aircraft

byValius Venckunas

2022-07-25

Unable to get its hands on Western equipment, particularly aircraft engines, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), which manufactures the MC-21, announced that the plane would only be delivered with the domestically produced PD-14 engine. 

Although the Russian government attempted to speed up its aircraft development program, the first six MC-21s are not expected to take off for commercial operations until 2024. 

Aeroflot Group signs purchase agreement for 339 Russian-built aircraft

• Airlines

byGabriele Petrauskaite

2022-09-07

搁耻蝉蝉颈补精东影业 United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) delayed the deliveries of the Irkut MC-21, the country精东影业 newest airliner, to 2025. 

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• Aircraft

byValius Venckunas

2020-10-22

In addition to being costly, import substitution slowed down many Russian aircraft development programs and endangered others.  

Irkut MC-21 conducted first flight with Russian PD-14 engines

• Aircraft

byValius Venckunas

2020-12-15

Aeroflot Group signs purchase agreement for 339 Russian-built aircraft

• Airlines

byGabriele Petrauskaite

2022-09-07

 

The agreement, which was signed on September 7, 2022, consists of 210 Irkut MC-21 single-aisle passenger aircraft, 89 Sukhoi Superjet New and 40 Tupolev Tu-214 medium-range narrow-body airliners.  

Russia to resurrect an additional 11 airliners from its aircraft boneyards

• Aircraft

byValius Venckunas

2022-07-25

鈥淭oday we signed the largest agreement on the acquisition of domestic aircraft in the recent history of Aeroflot. This is an important step that sets the stimulus and influences the prospects for the development of civil aviation in Russia,鈥� Aeroflot general director Sergey Alexandrovsky said.   

Delivery is expected to commence in 2023, with the last plane joining the group in 2030, Aeroflot said in a .  

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• Aircraft

byVyte Klisauskaite

2022-09-05

Sergey Chemezov, the general director of Rostec, the parent company of UAC, said that Boeing and Airbus planes 鈥渁re unlikely鈥� to ever be delivered to any Russian air carriers again. As a result, the local market will be replaced with domestically produced aircraft. For instance, Chemezov believes that the MC-21 will soon 鈥渂ecome the flagship aircraft鈥� of the Aeroflot fleet. 鈥淚 note that all aircraft will be delivered in an import-substituted form: with Russian-made on-board systems and units,鈥� Chemezov said.  

Following the delivery schedule, Aeroflot Group is expected to receive the first two Superjet New passenger planes in 2023. Meanwhile, delivery of the first six MS-21s and the first seven Tu-214s is expected to take place in 2024.  

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• Civil Aviation

byGabriele Petrauskaite

2022-06-28

Russian state corporation Rostec, which owns the majority of the country精东影业 aerospace manufacturers, published renders of the Irkut MC-21 airliner in Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) and American Airlines (A1G) (AAL) liveries.  

As Western countries imposed sanctions on Russian aviation following the start of the country精东影业 full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the aircraft were promptly re-registered in Russia. It is unclear if the render was made before the start of the invasion or if there was another reason for including the now-discontinued practice of foreign registration.  

The Irkut MC-21, which was envisioned as a competitor to aircraft like the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320neo, conducted its maiden flight in 2017.  

Initially intended to contain numerous Western-made parts, the aircraft has been undergoing a steady program of import substitution and will now feature only a Russian-made engine, the PD-14, despite initial plans of being able to use a Pratt & Whitney PW1000G-JM as an alternative.  

Aeroflot became the launch customer of the MC-21 in 2021, back when the first delivery of the aircraft was scheduled for 2022. It has since been delayed to 2024.  

In late august 2022, Aeroflot announced a plan to order 210 MC-21s in the near future following earlier announcements that the program will be sped up due to the unavailability of foreign-made aircraft.   

Aeroflot to order 323 Russian-made aircraft

• Airlines

byValius Venckunas

2022-08-29

 

The order will mainly consist of domestically-made Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) regional aircraft and single-aisle Irkut MC-21 aircraft. The airline also ordered an unspecified quantity of medium-range narrow-body Tupolev Tu-204 aircraft, reported citing undisclosed sources on June 8, 2022. Aeroflot and UAC are expected to sign the agreement for the aircraft acquisition in June 2022.   

Speaking to on June 2, 2022, Sergei Chemezov, the chief executive of UAC parent company Rostec, said that the manufacturer plans to supply 搁耻蝉蝉颈补精东影业 aviation market with more than 110 indigenous planes of various types by 2025 while expecting to increase production rates to more than 500 aircraft by 2030.  

However, earlier in March 2022, the country精东影业 Prime Minister Yury Borisov that because of the international sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, mass production of two Russian flagship airliners, the SSJ100 and MC-21, will be delayed between 1 and 2 years. 

 鈥淚n the production of these two flagship models, we used to rely on the supply of Pratt & Whitney engines in the part of the MS-21, which will no longer be supplied,鈥� Borisov confirmed to Interfax. 鈥淭his means that the serial volumes that we plan should now be completely replaced by the domestic PD-14 engine.鈥� 

Neither Aeroflot nor UAC disclosed when any of the 300 new planes would join the airline精东影业 fleet, according to the reports? 

On June 7, 2022, Aeroflot also revealed plans to raise around $3 billion (鈧�185.2 billion) in its equity capital by issuing more than 5.42 billion additional shares through an open subscription at a price of $0.57 (鈧�34.29) per share. 

鈥淭he Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders held on 3 June 2022, approved measures to bolster Aeroflot Group精东影业 financial stability and to restructure obligations under letters of credit,鈥� Aeroflot wrote in a   

It continued: 鈥淪hareholders approved an increase in the Company精东影业 equity capital of up to 5,424,308,073 additional shares through an open subscription at a price of RUB 34.29.鈥� 

Colombo court lifts ban on detained Aeroflot Airbus A330 from leaving Sri Lanka

• Airlines

byGabriele Petrauskaite

2022-06-06

Irkut, the manufacturer of the MC-21 twin-jet, will now only use the indigenously made PD-14 high-bypass turbofan engine, which is developed by Russian company UEC-Aviadvigatel, 搁耻蝉蝉颈补精东影业 Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for Defense and Space Industry Yuri Borisov told the Russian state-owned news agency on March 31, 2022  

In 2009, Irkut Corporation initially selected the US aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney to supply the MC-21 aircraft with PW1000G-JM turbofan engines. Later that year the country decided to have both internal and external suppliers for the engine to secure flexibility in controlling rate and price. Thus, UEC-Aviadvigatel was involved in the MC-21 project and started developing the PD-14.  

Facing the toughest international sanctions in its history due to the invasion of Ukraine, Russia decided to accelerate the development of its domestically manufactured commercial single-aisle aircraft Irkut MC-21. 

Russian-French company PowerJet stops Sukhoi Superjet 100 engine service

• MRO

byGabriele Petrauskaite

2022-03-31

With now both the United States and the European Union applying sanctions on Russia due to its military actions in Ukraine, the US-made engines are no longer available for Russian plane manufacturers. Consequently, UEC-Aviadvigatel will need to expand its facilities to be able to increase the production output of the PD-14, Borisov was cited as saying. 

The MC-21 is a medium-range aircraft, which development program was launched in 2007 and which performed its maiden flight in 2017. In December 2020, the plane took off for the first time with domestically built PD-14 engines. 

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• Aircraft

byGabriele Petrauskaite

2022-03-31

According to Irkut Corporation, the MC-21-300 twinjet can fly up to 163 passengers on board in a two-class configuration or up to 211 travelers in a single-class with a range up to 6,400 kilometers (3,500 nautical miles) without a refueling stop. The aircraft is a Russian-made rival for such models as the European-made Airbus A320neo family, the US-made Boeing 737 MAX, or even Brazil精东影业 Embraer E-Jet E2.  

Before Russia started the war in Ukraine, Irkut was expecting to deliver the first MC-21s to its domestic customers in 2022 and start the first deliveries to international airlines in 2025.