MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. Deliveries of the MC-21 passenger jet to airlines may start at the turn of 2021, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said an interview with the Vedomosti newspaper.
"The access to Russia is actually closed for foreign specialists during the pandemic period. Movement across the country of Russian participants in the cooperation has also been hampered. Therefore, we now expect to obtain the Russian type approval certificate approximately in mid-2021. The European one — one year later. In such a case, we will be able to ship the first commercial airplane to an operator in late 2021," Manturov said.
Validation of the type certificate for the Russian engine with EASA is scheduled for late 2022, the Minister said. "The PD-14 engine already has the Russian type approval certificate. Certificate validation with EASA is planned at the turn of 2022. Two airplanes will be engaged in flight tests," Manturov noted. "Completion of MC-21 flight tests with the PD-14 engine is scheduled for the second quarter of 2022," he added.