A troubled project, marked by significant delays caused by a combination of technological, geopolitical and logistical factors

Serial production of the Russian MC-21 single-aisle aircraft, a flagship project of the country’s aerospace industry, will be further delayed and will begin in 2026, Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov said at a recent press conference in Moscow. “We need to complete all the certification tests this year. There are a lot of flights planned, and I hope we will meet the deadlines", he said, noting that 2025 will be crucial for completing the required certification stages.

The company had originally planned to start production in 2025, but the new timeline calls for the first batch of MC-21s to be mass-produced starting in 2026.

Delays and complications: the context of the MC-21 project

The MC-21 program, developed by Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) under the Rostec umbrella, was designed to compete with civil aviation giants such as Boeing and Airbus. However, the project has been hit by significant delays caused by a combination of technological, geopolitical and logistical factors.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Russian aerospace industry was hit hard by Western sanctions. These measures limited access to essential components, such as avionics and composite materials that were initially supplied by European and US companies. One of the main challenges was to replace the foreign-supplied composite wings with a fully Russian-made version. The Pratt & Whitney PW1400G engines, originally planned to power the MC-21, were also replaced with domestically produced PD-14 engines.

But even before the sanctions, the project had suffered delays due to technical difficulties in developing the technologies needed to compete on the global market. In particular, the performance of the wings and the efficiency of the engines had been subject to numerous revisions. The pandemic then further slowed down the work, interrupting supply chains and delaying certification tests. Furthermore, with the aim of making the MC-21 project independent of foreign supplies, the Russian government had increased investments in localizing the production of all critical components. This process, although necessary due to the geopolitical context, required significant time and resources.

Coming back to the present, 2025 will be a key year for the project, with a busy schedule of certification tests needed to gain approval from Russian aviation authorities and potential international customers, such as Turkey. According to Chemezov, the flight schedule is as follows:

- Structural and aerodynamic resistance tests.

- Efficiency tests of the new PD-14 engines.

- Checks relating to safety regulations, essential to ensure compliance with international standards.

Designed to carry between 150 and 210 passengers, the model aims to position itself as an alternative to the Boeing -737 and Airbus A-320 families, the best-selling aircraft in the medium-haul segment. Its innovative features include:

- Wide use of composite materials (now produced entirely in Russia).

- A range of approximately 6,400 kilometers, ideal for regional and international routes.

- Cabin designed to offer greater comfort than aircraft in the same category.

Rostec expects the domestic Russian market to be the main recipient of the aircraft, with the aim of gradually replacing foreign models in the coming years, in line with the ambitious goal of industrial autonomy that has characterised all three terms of Putin's presidency, as well as that of his heir apparent Medvedev.