MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. The first 18 MC-21 aircraft are in production, Andrey Boginsky, General Director of the Yakovlev Design Bureau, said in an interview with TASS.

Yakovlev Design Bureau is a Russian aircraft designer and manufacturer, which is controlled by the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).

"Currently, there are 18 MC-21 aircraft in production: six of them should replenish Aeroflot’s fleet, another 12 - [the fleet of] Rossiya [airline]. They are all at different stages of production. The first five airframes of the MC-21 aircraft are already assembled, and they have begun installation of domestic systems and units simultaneously with certification process," he noted.

In early September, Sergey Chemezov, head of Rostec corporation (includes UAC), announced that more than ten MC-21 and SJ 100 aircraft are now being built for Aeroflot. As part of the Eastern Economic Forum 2023, Aeroflot and the leasing company " Aviacapital-Service (also part of Rostec) signed a firm contract for the supply of 339 Russian aircraft for the group’s airlines.

As for the import-substituted SJ 100 aircraft, the first two serial aircraft will be produced this year, Boginsky said.

"As for the Superjet, by and large, the first two serial aircraft will be ready this year, but there is the issue of certification, and it will depend, in particular, on the pace of work on the engine: at least 120 flights must be performed with it," Boginsky said.

He also added that customers who already use Superjet aircraft are interested in replacing the Russian-French SaM-146 engines with Russian PD-8.