Assembly of the first fuselages of MS-21-300 aircraft has been completed. In April 2016 assembly of the first test aircraft will be completed and it will perform its maiden flight, Deputy Chairman of the Government of Russia, Dmitry Rogozin, said during a meeting held by the Chairman of the Government of Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev.

«Assembly of the first fuselages of MS-21-300 aircraft has been completed. In accordance with the program’s schedule (the jet will be designated as Yak-242) the first test aircraft will be assembled by April 2016 and then it will perform its maiden flight. The fourth MS-21 jet (Yak-242) will be powered by Russian-produced PD-14 engine; the schedule of PD-14 program was synchronized with the development of the aircraft. The jet has a passenger capacity of 180 passengers; the most popular in its class. We have secured firm orders for over 150 aircraft of the type so far», - Rogozin said.

He also reminded that Aeroflot has already placed an order for 50 MS-21-300 jets seating 180 passengers. «We have two versions seating 150 and 180 passengers. The latter is more popular. Irkut Corporation plans to manufacture 900 jets of the type; the output will reach 50 airliners per year by 2018. In general we are keeping an eye on development of the aircraft and its engine. So far we are on schedule», - Rogozin added.