Putin congratulates Rogozin, Irkut staff on first MC-21 flight - Peskov
MOSCOW. May 28 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and the staff of Irkut Corporation on the first flight of a new Russian medium-haul aircraft, MC-21, the president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Sunday.
"Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin reported to Putin by telephone that our medium-haul aircraft took off for its first test flight. The head of state also phoned the president of Irkut Corporation, the general design engineer of Yakovlev Design Bureau, Oleg Demchenko, and congratulated him and the company staff and all industry workers on this landmark event," Peskov said.
Earlier Rogozin announced the first MC-21 flight and posted photos of the aircraft in the air on his Facebook page.
The family of MC-21 ("The mainline aircraft of the 21st century") short-to-medium-haul passenger airliners is a civil project of the state corporation Irkut (part of the United Aircraft Corporation). Initially the tests were slated to take place in early April 2017 but were postponed until the end of May "in light of the results of the static and other tests," Rogozin said at the time.
The aircraft is based on the MC-21-300 with a capacity of 180-200 seats. The company is also planning to start production of MC-21-200 with a 150-seat capacity and MC-21-400 which can take in over 200 passengers. Starting from 2020 Irkut is planning to produce 20 MC-21s each year and to increase that to 70 machines per year from 2023, the corporation said earlier.
