Tue, May 30, 2017 page10

• Russia launches maiden jet flight

  • Reuters, MOSCOW
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  Russia on Sunday carried out the maiden flight of its new MS-21 medium-range passenger plane, its first post-Soviet foray into production of a mainline commercial aircraft which it hopes will rival those of its Western competitors.

  In a surprise statement, manufacturer Irkut Corp and its state-controlled parent company, United Aircraft Corp (UAC), said an MS-21-300 model had successfully completed a 30-minute flight at a height of 1,000m and traveling at 300kph.

  Squeezed by Western sanctions over its role in the Ukraine crisis, Russia is trying to rejuvenate domestic industrial production to make the country less dependant on foreign firms.

  The test flight, which was not announced to media beforehand, comes just three weeks after China staged the maiden flight of its new C919 passenger jet, highlighting the growing competition to industry heavyweights Boeing Co and Airbus Group SE.

  Russian officials have said the MS-21 is superior to its Western-made counterparts in many respects and would be snapped up by both Russian and foreign carriers, but Western analysts say both Russia and China face a huge challenge to shatter the transatlantic airplane duopoly.

  “The flight mission has been completed. The flight was fine, there were no observations which will prevent further testing,” test pilot Oleg Kononenko was quoted as saying.

  However, Western aviation sources expressed surprise at the flight’s brevity and relatively low altitude compared with recent three-to-four-hour debuts of North American and European models.

  “It suggests they either have severe limitations or may have had something happen and decided to come back,” said a Western flight test engineer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

  A Western jetmaking source called it a “genteel flight.”

  A UAC spokesman said the flight had been long enough to test everything that needed checking in the air.

  Russia has fought hard to shake off its Soviet reputation for old and creaking aircraft flown by inexperienced crews.

  Russian President Vladimir Putin called Irkut director-general Oleg Demchenko to congratulate him and his employees on what the Kremlin called “a significant event.”

  The twin-engine MS-21 is to be built in two variants: the MS-21-300, which is to have 160 to 211 seats, and the later MS-21-200, which is to have 130 to 165 seats.

  It is sometimes referred to as the MC-21 when using the Russian name and Cyrillic letters.

  Production is expected to start in the next two years and Russian state media have said numerous contracts with domestic and foreign carriers have already been agreed.

  Irkut said it so far had “firm orders” for 175 planes.

  The US’ Boeing and Europe’s Airbus remain far ahead of their Chinese and Russian rivals, with bigger sales books and more advanced technical know-how.

  However, the new plane could win sales in Russia and some eastern European and Asian countries, industry analysts said, with buyers attracted by its lower running costs.

  Irkut said operational costs for its new plane would be up to 15 percent cheaper than current generation aircraft.

  With a range of up to 6,000km, the MS-21 would be competing against the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft which dominate the medium-range narrow-body market.

  Both companies have upgraded those families to achieve comparable 15 percent operational savings compared with previous versions.

  Russian state defense conglomerate Rostec, which is headed by close Putin ally Sergei Chemezov, said it had agreed to purchase 85 aircraft.

  At least 50 of them would be leased to Aeroflot, Rostec said, which operates a fleet dominated by narrow-body Airbus models, including 70 A320s.

  UAC president Yury Slyusar said he estimated global demand for the new MS-21 models at about 15,000 aircraft over the next 20 years.
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