Irkut Corporation will supply six MC-21-310 aircraft with Russian engines to the first operator, Rossiya Airlines (part of the Aeroflot Group). This was stated by Kirill Budaev, Vice President and Head of Marketing and Sales of civil aircraft of the Irkut Corporation, at the international conference " Aviation Finance and Leasing in Russia and the CIS». This reported by Izvestia newspaper.

He said that certification tests are being carried out on the aircraft under way. The corporation "works very closely" with the Rossiya Airlines, with which it has already made a "huge plan" for the preparation and commissioning and rolling out of aircraft in the first years.

"We have four planes flying. As part of the certification, a full assessment of flight performance has already been carried out, and the assessment of take-off and landing characteristics is being completed. The plane was checked on the runway covered with water and snow, " Budaev said.

He added that the flights were carried out without any comments in the conditions of natural icing. A full flight cycle was carried out under the program for assessing noise on the ground. Successfully passes the test to confirm the strength and durability of the airframe. Ground tests for lightning exposure are also underway.

The prototype MC-21-310 is at the stage of factory finishing tests and plans to fly to MAKS-2021, where it will participate in the flight program.

Irkut has already started production of serial aircraft for delivery to the first customers. The first two aircraft are in the workshop at the final assembly stage. We are waiting for the start of the wing docking stage to the first production MC-21.

In addition, there are three more aircraft at different stages of assembly. The infrastructure for mass production and after-sales support was put into operation - a logistics center, a hangar for airfield testing of several aircraft at once.

As Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said at the SPIEF on June 5, the first flight of the MC-21 medium-haul passenger airliner with a wing made of Russian composite materials will take place this year.