MOSCOW, RUSSIA — Tatyana Fileva, group CEO and co-owner of S7 Group, said that although the company would like to order the Russian MC-21 medium-haul passenger aircraft, she does not anticipate that they will be mass-produced in the near future.
The group is ready to order the MC-21 once it becomes available, but there will not be any soon, Fileva told reporters on the sidelines of the Women's Summit.
"They're only saying that they'll produce in 2025, [but] in 2025 they'll actually produce almost nothing. They'll only begin serial production," she said.
According to Sergei Chemezov, CEO of state-owned enterprise Rostec, the first six MC-21 aircraft powered by Russian PD-14 engines will be delivered for use in commercial operations in 2024. The aircraft are planned to join the Rossiya Airlines' fleet, a member of the Russian national operator Aeroflot Group.
Denis Manturov, deputy prime minister and minister of industry and trade, previously announced that commercial deliveries of the aircraft's fully "Russianified" version will enter service in 2025.
Fileva said the Russian carriers' current fleets, comprised of foreign aircraft, will continue to fly over the next 10 to 15 years.
"There will be a Russian fleet, but how many airplanes do we have in the country? We have about 600 narrow-body planes alone, in other words, they won't be replaced by starting to produce a few. Of course, the foreign fleet should be flying for the next 10-15 years, and then there will be time for Russian production to ramp up. It's just going to be slowly. And we, of course, will add the MC-21 to our fleet," Fileva said.
The MC-21 test aircraft, with registration 73051 and equipped with Russian PD-14 engines, conducted its first flight last week. The test aircraft was the first of the new airliner that made its maiden flight in May 2017, but was originally configured to be powered by Pratt & Whitney’s PW1400G engines.
Western countries stopped supplying civilian aircraft and spare parts to Russia as part of the sanctions after it started a military campaign against Ukraine.
