Azerbaijan Purchases New Russian Aircraft MS-21-300

Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement to supply new Russian medium-distance passenger aircraft MS-21 for the Azerbaijani Airlines, the President of the manufacturer of the aircraft – Irkut Corporation Oleg Demchenko said on Russia-24 TV on June 8.

According to RIA Novosti, the aircraft was first presented at the Irkutsk aircraft plant on June 8.

"Today, I will not speak on the number (of the aircraft - Ed.), on which we have signed an agreement with Azerbaijan. The most important thing is that it is Azerbaijan Airlines. It is significant that we have done this on the day of "rolling the aircraft out," Demchenko said.

The first flight of MS-21-300 will be carried out on the results of ground tests at the flight test station in the period December 2016 - February 2017. Obtaining a certificate of domestic type, and the first delivery to the customer is scheduled for the end of 2018.

The family of short and medium-distance Russian aircraft MS-21 is created based on the technology of the XXI century and focuses on the most capacious segment of the world market. The composite wings of high length, the increased diameter of the fuselage, the engines and the latest generation of these systems provide a competitive advantage to the plane, such as reducing the operating costs, increased comfort for passengers, and meeting the requirements of advanced standards for environmental impact.

MS-21 aircraft family includes two models that are designed with a high degree of unification: MS-21-200 was designed to carry 132 to 165 passengers, and MS-21-300 was designed to carry 163 to 211 passengers.

At the moment, there are "hard" orders for 175 aircraft and "soft" ones – for 100. Aeroflot has ordered 50 aircraft, and the beginning of the deliveries is scheduled for 2018.