The program was launched in 2007, planning a 2016 introduction. By June 2011, the "pre-design" phase was completed and the "working design" stage was under way with three-dimensional models and drawings for subcontractors and suppliers, to be completed by mid-2012. In February 2012, Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin announced it was slated to begin certification tests in 2015/2016 and to enter production in 2020. The unit cost of the MC-21-200 is
US$ 72 million, On 8 June 2016, the -300 was rolled-out in
Irkutsk, East Siberia, six years after program launch and with 175 orders. In February 2017, it passed 90% of the static ultimate load test (150% of the highest load in operation) at the
TsAGI but failed the 100% test for which the wingbox will need reinforcements: this is common for new airliners like the
Airbus A380,
Boeing 787 or
Mitsubishi MRJ, aiming for the smallest possible margin to avoid excess weight; it passed the limit load test (highest load during flight) which enables flight testing which should start in April. Cracks developed at the point of contact between the titanium beam and the composite wing skin in the wingbox. In May 2017, it was undergoing systems ground testing including its
auxiliary power unit and
taxiing tests. After completing taxi and runway roll tests, its
maiden flight was scheduled for late May 2017 with
Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan engines, certified in September 2016 in Russia. The second test aircraft was in final assembly in January 2018 and was to join the flight-test campaign in the first quarter. Its construction was completed by the end of March. It was scheduled to fly in April 2018, and the third test aircraft was to fly in the 2018 fourth quarter. On 20 July 2018, it flew from Irkutsk to the Gromov Flight Research Institute near Moscow in six hours. Initial production steps started in 2018, certification slipped into late 2019 and the first delivery to 2020. For three years after 2018, UAC planned to invest ₽ billion ($ million) for the MC-21. By October 2018, two
EASA test pilots and a test engineer test flew the plane in preparation for European certification. On 3 December, a fuselage was delivered to the
Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute at
Moscow-Zhukovsky for
fatigue testing: repetitive loads will simulate 180,000 cycles. By early 2019, the two prototypes had completed 122 test sorties, and following
international sanctions against Russia, 1.6 billion roubles ($24.2 million) of additional subsidies were allocated to the program for 2019, followed by 4.11 billion roubles in 2020 and 4.81 billion roubles in 2021: Russian technical content was aimed to be 97% by 2022. The program cost is 438 billion rubles (US$ Bn) By then, certification trials were expected to end in the second half of 2020 before first delivery to Aeroflot by the end of the year. On 18 February 2019, Rostec delayed entry into service for another year to 2021 due to US sanctions, while another 240–250 billion rubles ($3.62–3.78 billion) was needed to complete development. On 16 March 2019, the third test aircraft, which had been fully fitted out with a passenger cabin, made its maiden flight. After painting at
Ulyanovsk, on 13 May 2019 it joined the other two test aircraft at
Moscow-Zhukovsky Airport, where the certification programme was being conducted. On 17 September 2019, the third test aircraft made its first international flight from Moscow-Zhukovsky to
Istanbul Atatürk Airport. The aircraft was presented to
Turkish Airlines at
Teknofest Istanbul, and co-production projects were proposed to
Turkey. The fourth flight-test aircraft was rolled out on 28 November 2019, and performed its first flight on 25 December 2019.
Transition to Russian-produced parts In January 2020, Irkut received the first Russian-designed PD-14 engines for installation. A PD-14-powered MC-21-310 made its maiden flight on 15 December 2020 from Irkutsk. In December 2021, Irkut carried out the maiden flight of the first MC-21 to be manufactured with domestically produced composite wings. By October 2022, Irkut had fitted the first flight-test aircraft with PD-14 engines and other domestically produced components and flown a test sortie in the new configuration. The aircraft was to participate in the certification programme, targeted to be completed by the end of 2022. In 2022, after
international sanctions against Russia were imposed due to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Rosaviatsia announced that Russia would only use domestic engines. The need to use Russian avionics was said to delay the first shipment of an aircraft to late 2024 or to 2025. However, as part of a plan announced in June 2022, aimed at bringing the proportion of domestically produced aircraft to 80% of the Russian fleet by the end of the decade, deliveries of the MC-21 were expected to start in 2024 and reach a delivery rate of 72 aircraft per year by 2029. In April 2025, according to UAC, the aircraft had received several sets of new Russian-made avionics equipment, including computers, navigation systems and radio communications equipment, as well as a domestic auxiliary power unit, air conditioning and pressure control systems, among others. The first all Russian produced MC-21 took flight on April 23, 2025. The aircraft, serial number 73055, was the first aircraft fitted with the all new Russian produced parts. These covered the aforementioned avionics, featuring a new domestic operating system
JetOS and most notably a new all carbon fibre wing and domestic
Aviadvigatel PD-14 engines. By August 2025, the first prototype MC-21-310 aircraft with serial number 73055 had completed 19 flights totalling 74 hours. A second prototype aircraft, serial number 73054, was then added to the certification program in August 2025 to accelerate the process. Completion of the certification program was anticipated between September and December 2026, with the MC-21 then entering commercial service.
Introduction Pre-sanctions plans Aeroflot expected to lease 50 MC-21-300s from
Aviakapital for 12 to 18 years and a monthly
lease of less than $437,282 each. In October 2018,
fuselage panels for the first customer MC-21 were completed by United Aircraft Corporation subsidiary
Aviastar. In early 2019, the annual output was targeted to start with 20 airframes initially, rising to 72 airframes in 2025, with 100 and possibly 120 later for a forecast of 850 deliveries. By the end of December 2021, Russian
type certification was granted for the MC-21-300 variant powered by
Pratt & Whitney PW1000G engines, ahead of its planned introduction with its launch operator Rossiya. The aircraft was denied European certification on 14 March 2022.
Post-sanctions plans In March 2024,
Kommersant reported that the design and testing of new Russian-made equipment would delay the aircraft's service introduction until 2025–2026 and that the MC-21 was currently overweight by , rendering it incapable of meeting its original specifications for operating weight, range, and altitude. With a maximum commercial load of , range will be reduced to less than , and the
service ceiling will only be . The original specifications reportedly could not be met unless engine thrust increased by 20%, an increase thought to be infeasible in commercial operations. Serial production of the MC-21 airliner was then authorised on 28 March 2025. Due to the immaturity of the PD-14 jet engine production line, a proposal was initially made to use an upgraded version of the existing
PS-90 engine to accelerate the airframe’s delivery timeline. Deliveries of the MC-21-310 model are scheduled to begin with launch customer Aeroflot in 2026.
Further development In late 2025, additional funds were allocated for the further refinement of the aircraft design, with a focus on weight reduction and improving flight performance characteristics. Funds initially intended for the
CR929 wide-body aircraft would be reallocated, with up to 2.2 billion
rubles available for design refinement. ==Design==