The Irkut MC-21-300 is halfway through a repeat cold soak test in Yakutia, Russia’s coldest republic. The testing will confirm the narrowbody airliner’s ability to start at ambient temperatures below -30 deg C, currently the lowest limit in the data chart to the type certification.

Having completed RVSM trials (1000 ft vertical spacing) on January 20, MSN 73056 flew with 70 engineers and technicians aboard from the Irkut plant in Irkutsk to Yakutsk. While there, engineers tested the aircraft to -37 deg., in expectation of -40 deg temperatures this week against the design target of -55 deg, to which all essential onboard systems had been exposed in laboratory conditions.

The newly appointed Irkut CEO, Andrei Boginsky, commented that the ongoing trials represent part of the manufacturer’s efforts to extend limitations currently in the MC-21-300 certificate related to temperatures, airfield elevation, and side winds. “And yet, our most important objective for 2022 is to complete certification of the airplane with the wing made of Russian materials,” he said. “This is necessary for Rossiya Airlines to commence MC-21-300 revenue operations in all geographic zones.”

On December 28, 2021, the Russian national civil aviation authority—the Federal Agency of Air Transportation “Rosaviatsiya”—awarded the Irkut corporation what it calls the Initial Type Certification for the MC-21-300 version featuring U.S.-supplied Pratt & Whitney PW1431G engines. The document permits Irkut to start serial production of deliverable aircraft, which will come with wings made of local materials instead of Japanese thread and U.S. resin as on five development prototypes. “We are ready to continue working on the MC-21 so as to lift temporary limitations and optimize the airframe structure, as well as to refurbish it with the PD-14 [engines],” Rosaviatsiya head Alexander Neradko said.

The Russian wing has undergone tests on the sixth prototype (MSN 73361) since mid-December. Two more sets await installation on deliverable aircraft intended for Rossiya, effectively a St. Petersburg branch of the flag carrier Aeroflot. The airline expects the first shipment in August or September to allow for the start of passenger flights in October, making it the model’s first revenue-service operator.

Rossiya inherited the 2011 framework agreement for fifty MC-21s from Aeroflot. Although the flag carrier confirmed the order in 2018, it decided to hand over all the commercial rights to Rossiya in the course of the ongoing corporate transformations in Aeroflot Group under a renewed development strategy.

Irkut intends to assemble 32 MC-21s by 2025, mostly in the “-300” version. Production of the completely indigenous MC-21-310 with local avionics and PD-14 engines will start in 2024. Irkut ferried MSN 73051 back to the factory in Irkutsk on December 22 for refurbishment, to supplement the only airplane (MSN 73055) currently powered by the PD-14.

Together, MC-21s had completed about 800 flights for certification and route proving as of last month. In January, only two prototypes continued flying: MSN 73054 logged four hours, and MSN 73056 flew for 22 hours. The latter features a revised set of onboard systems for larger local content.

On January 20, Russian prime-minister Mikhail Mishustin chaired a governmental meeting on civil aviation during which he confirmed his cabinet’s decision to invest another 61 billion roubles ($800 million) from the state budget into the MC-21. The money will go for R&D, import-substitution, and aftersales support. Investments already made into the MC-21 project exceed 220 billion roubles, including 170 billion into R&D; the rest went for new tooling and aftersales support system setup. Of those, the Russian state budget provided 150 billion roubles.