Tatyana Fileva, CEO of S7 Group, the parent company of Russian airlines S7 and Globus, has said that while the group is ready to order Russian MC-21 aircraft, it does not expect them to be mass produced in the next few years. The statement was reported by Interfax in a report published on October 12, 2022.  

“They [the manufacturer, ed.-] are only saying that they will produce it in 2025, [but] in 2025 they will actually produce almost nothing, they will only start ramping up production,” Fileva was quoted as saying.  

Fileva said the existing foreign fleet in Russia will continue to fly for the next decade or even longer.  

“There will be a Russian fleet in the future, but how many airplanes do we have in the country right now? We have about 600 narrow-body planes alone if I’m not mistaken […] In other words, it won’t be replaced by starting to produce a few,” Fileva added.  

She continued: “Of course, the foreign fleet should be flying for the next 10-15 years, then there will be time for Russian production to ramp up […] Of course they’ll start producing [Russian aircraft], it’s just going to be slow. And we, of course, will take the MC-21, we’d like to take it.”