The maiden flight of the first serial fully import-substituted passenger aircraft MC-21-310 took place on 3 August 2026 at the airfield of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant — a branch of PJSC Yakovlev, part of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) under the Rostec state corporation.[1] The event marked an important milestone in Russia's programme to develop a domestically produced mainline passenger aircraft following the introduction of sanctions and the transition to Russian-made components.[2]

Test Flight Parameters

The flight lasted 1 hour 23 minutes. The aircraft climbed to an altitude of up to 6,000 metres and reached an indicated airspeed of 600 km/h.[1] During the tests, the crew checked the aircraft's stability and handling in various configurations, as well as the operation of the Russian onboard systems.[2] The aircraft is equipped with PD-14 engines developed by ODK.[1]

The crew comprised distinguished test pilots: commander — Hero of Russia Roman Taskayev, pilots Sergey Mikhaylyuk and Andrey Voropayev, and flight test engineer Nikolay Fonurin.[3] According to Taskayev, "the first production aircraft performed well; the flight plan was completed in full." MC-21 chief designer Vitaliy Naryshkin explained that the maiden flight of the production aircraft made it possible to work through the key procedures of the final stages of manufacturing and passage through the flight test station, which should subsequently reduce the time between type certification and the start of serial deliveries.[4][2]

Significance for Serial Production

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Gennadiy Abramenkov described the flight as confirmation that the production chains for serial manufacture of the MC-21 are ready, including the first batch of 18 aircraft. At the time of the production aircraft's maiden flight, more than half of the certification flight test programme had been completed; deliveries to operators are planned following the completion of certification. According to data as of August 2026, the MC-21 will receive its type certificate at the end of 2027 — as announced on 24 June 2026 by Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov; of the first batch of 18 aircraft, 16 are to be handed over to operators in 2027, with the remaining two in January 2028. In the course of import substitution the aircraft gained 6 tonnes in weight, which affected its flight performance: the range confirmed during testing stands at 3,800 kilometres, compared with the originally stated 6,350 kilometres. The cost of the first batch of 18 aircraft, under an order signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in mid-July 2026, is 96.1 billion roubles — approximately 5.3 billion roubles per aircraft; in 2023, an equivalent batch was valued at 58.3 billion roubles.[4][1]

Participation of Nizhny Novgorod enterprises

A number of Nizhny Novgorod enterprises are involved in the production cooperation under the MC-21 programme: the aviation plant Sokol Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, included in the cooperation for the manufacture of medium-haul aircraft and having completed assembly of the first fin box section (FBS) while conducting work on full localisation of that unit at its own facility; as well as Hydromash named after V.I. Luzyanin, the metallurgical plant Ruspolymet, and the scientific and production enterprise Polyot.[2]

Hydromash named after V.I. Luzyanin supplies landing gear and hydraulic assemblies; Ruspolymet supplies ring blanks made from special alloys; Polyot Research and Production Enterprise supplies onboard radio-electronic equipment.[2]

Sources

  1. aif.ru — First serial MC-21 completes successful flight (archive)
  2. Vzglyad-NN — First serial import-substituted MC-21-310 makes its maiden flight
  3. aif.ru — Footage published of the maiden flight of the import-substituted MC-21 aircraft (archive)
  4. NN.RU — According to data as of August 2026, the MC-21 will receive its type certificate at the end of 2027 — as announced on 24 June 2026 by Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Anton…