The most hotly debated issue of April 2023 regarding the MC-21 was the news about the flight of Airbus 73056 and also SSJ100 97005 to Ulyanovsk for repainting in preparation for the demonstration flights at MAKS-2023 air show, where the United Aircraft Corporation will present the new livery for its civil aircraft.
The Corporation is consistently working towards a single corporate style for all its enterprises and organizations, and the change of color scheme is linked to the need to unify the livery of all prototypes of civil aircraft, which in the coming years will form the basis of the fleet of Russian airlines.
In one of the reports from the paint shop of Spektr-Avia UAC showed the photo of the MC-21 with the index “-310”. In specialized forums and in comments in social networks, attention was immediately drawn to the discrepancy between the index and the aircraft’s parameters. The explanation for this UAC step is very simple.
A total of five aircraft were built in the MC-21-300 version (with PW1400G engines): 73051, 73053, 73054, 73056 and 73361. The first prototype 73051 was remotorized for PD-14 engines. The aircraft, which was to become the first production aircraft – board 73361 by April next year will be fully “russified” in the version of the MC-21-310RUS. And thus, except for the three remaining aircraft with PW1400G engines, there will never be another one – this is already history. And certification testing, launching of mass production and the beginning of commercial operation of the MC-21-310 are ahead of us. On this basis, the index “-300” on the updated livery would look illogical, ridiculous – why promote a product that does not exist?
A source in the civil aviation industry confirmed to us that in the current situation such a step is a marketing decision.
“Good afternoon! 310 was put on the basis of the logic that the MC-21-300 aircraft will no longer be produced in series, and we can forget about it. The livery is marketing, aimed at promoting a Russified aircraft, and this prototype, among other things, will help us to go into series production of the MC-21-310RUS aircraft”, explained the source in response to a request to confirm or deny the assumptions of the editorial site.
Serial deliveries of the MC-21 with PD-14 engines should begin next year. It is assumed that the first customer will be given six airliners. Also in 2024, the plan is to transfer 14 PD-14 engines to the Irkut Corporation whose serial production is being ramped up at the UEC-Perm Motors company.
At the beginning of April, the media reported about “the beginning of serial production of PD-14,” but this wording does not correspond to reality. Back in February 2021, the Perm company received a certificate of conformity, which allows it to start serial production of the PD-14. “The certificate obtained makes it possible to start serial production of these engines. In 2021, it is planned to produce several new PD-14s, which will be used for reserve in flight tests of the new MC-21-310 aircraft,” Anatoly Serdyukov, industrial director of Rostec’s aviation cluster, said at the time.
In December of the same year, Alexander Artyukhov, General Director of the United Engine Corporation (UEC), said at a government retreat in Perm that state support was needed to bring the engine to the market. According to him, the R&D stage involved the creation of low-volume production in the amount of up to 10 engines per year. Building up the production of PD-14 requires the identification of funding sources for the production capacity of 50 engines a year and the organization of the launch system of after-sales service.
In November 2022, the Russian government approved the allocation of 44 billion rubles for the program to subsidize the expansion of production of engines PD-14, PS-90A, PD-8 and TV7-117ST-01. Within two years UEC is to ensure production of about fifty PD-8 engines, as well as twenty PS-90A and fourteen PD-14 engines.
Besides the domestic engines the serial production of the wing and the center wing from the Russian composite materials on the Ulyanovsk enterprise AeroComposite is going on. This year it is planned to produce four aircraft sets, in 2024 their number will increase up to six.
“At the enterprise in Ulyanovsk everything is done from the Russian materials, there is practically nothing imported: composite materials are Russian, auxiliary materials are Russian, paints are Russian, sealants are Russian. Here the whole process has been already import substituted,” the first Deputy Director General of the Corporation Irkut, General Director of JSC AeroComposite Anatoly Gaidanskij informed during the visit of the head of the region Aleksey Russkikh to the enterprise.
“Now the batch production is conducted at the factory, we make the small changes in the construction of the composite wing as some components are changed in the process of import substitution. But these are not the global changes and “AeroComposite” is in the schedules and the plans that were set by Irkut Corporation,” explained the head of the enterprise.
The good news was the announcement made by Sergey Chemezov, head of Rostec, about the cost of the MC-21 for Russian airlines. He stated that the cost of the new MC-21s for Aeroflot and other carriers will be much lower than the market price.
According to him, it is a conscious step of the state to reduce the burden on airlines and the availability of airline tickets, the cost of which includes a leasing fee. At the same time, the state will help the aircraft industry to partially compensate the cost of aircraft, Chemezov emphasized. “Similar approaches work in many countries, in Europe or China, where the authorities consciously subsidize the cost of aircraft for carriers to maintain a competitive price level,” said the head of Rostec.
The government officials said that the MC-21 will cost about 3 billion rubles for Russian airlines, while a similar Boeing aircraft costs 5-6 billion rubles.
In Crimea, the plant Fiolent within the framework of import substitution manufacture of transformers for regional aircraft SSJ-New and aircraft electrical machines (generators, engines, transformers) for the MC-21, said the head of the Republic Sergey Aksenov on April 25.
According to him, the plant has quadrupled the volume of orders, including the state defense order. The plant is loaded and is recruiting additional staff. The plant has received a 40 million rubles subsidy from the republican budget, and another 70 million rubles will come from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation to upgrade the machine tool fleet.
In April, the MC-21 aircraft flew a total of 16 flights, for a total duration of just over 47 hours.
After a long break, associated with the use in the ground certification tests, the 73056 took to the skies, which performed a flight before flying to Ulyanovsk for repainting.
Aircraft 73053 performed flights under the factory test program to check software updates and eliminate the deficiencies received during the certification flights.
Flight 73055 also took to the skies to verify the performance of the PD-14 engines, which were installed on the aircraft to replace those that had been in service for two years.
