President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has visited the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, where the Belarusian delegation familiarised itself with the production facilities of the enterprise, which produces both military and civil aircraft products.
Aircraft produced at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant are in service with the Belarusian Air Force: Su-30SM multirole fighters and Yak-130 combat trainer aircraft. During the visit, the parties discussed the possibilities of expanding co-operation in the field of aircraft manufacturing. Accompanied by UAC Director General Yuri Slyusar, Alexander Lukashenko and members of the Belarusian delegation were shown the production of the MS-21-310 aircraft and told about the technologies used in the serial construction of this aircraft.

The Belarusian airline Belavia has previously expressed interest in purchasing MS-21 aircraft and may become one of the first operators of the promising Russian airliner outside Russia. Yuri Slyusar said that the increase in the number of airlines operating this aircraft will contribute to its improvement.
At present, Russia and Belarus are jointly developing the light multifunctional aircraft Osvey, which is expected to operate in both passenger and cargo variants. The UAC CEO noted that for further development of co-operation it is necessary to scale the current tasks and reach a new level of cooperation. This includes expanding work on the production of parts and units, as well as the implementation of civil and transport programmes.

“We have signed contracts, we are already cooperating now, we are making nomenclature for Tu-214, it is necessary to scale this, to bring it to a new level. First of all, this is cooperation on civil and transport programmes. As for MS-21, we are interested in expanding the pool of potential operators, including Belavia,” said Yuri Slyusar.
In his opinion, this requires political will and organisation of processes, calculations, investments. “As part of the implementation of the import substitution programme and increasing the rate of aircraft production, we are aimed at increasing cooperation with enterprises of the Republic of Belarus,” Slyusar added.