IRKUTSK, June 8, /TASS/. Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) will create a company that will be responsible for service support for the MC-21 aircraft, UAC President Yury Slusar told reporters.
According to him, this company will also provide service support for Sukhoi Super Jet-100 civil aircraft.
"The infrastructure, which is now being created in the framework of the Sukhoi Superjet 100, will also be used for the MC-21 project: warehouses, training centers, logistics, partners all over the world, maintenance centers, the material base. All this will be done for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 project and also for MC-21," Slyusar said.
According to him, the Superjet International (SJI), a center for the promotion of SSJ-100 located in Venice, Italy, will also be used for after-sales service of MC-21.
"We will also use capabilities of Venice (Superjet International) for promotion, customization and after-sales service," Slusar said.
SJI is a joint venture between the Italian Alenia Aermacchi (part of Finmeccanica group) and Russia’s Sukhoi company. It is responsible for marketing, sales, customization and delivery of the SSJ-100 aircraft in Europe, America, Oceania and Africa.
Alongside with organization of sales and after-sales service the joint venture provides training for pilots and technical staff of client companies.
Earlier on Wednesday, a roll out ceremony of the MC-21 passenger airliner took place in Irkutsk in Russia’s Siberia. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev took part in the ceremony.
The Irkut MC-21 is a series of twin-engine short-range and mid-range Russian jet airliners set to replace Soviet Tu-134 and Tu-154 aircraft and its Western analogues.
The first MC-21 plane is planned to take off this year. Serial production of airliners is planned to start after 2020.