Belavia, the Belarusian national airline, could be the first foreign operator of the Yakovlev MC-21 (or MS-21), Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has suggested. During Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's visit to the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, UAC highlighted that Belavia had previously expressed interest in acquiring the model.

“We are interested in expanding the pool of potential operators, including Belavia,” said Yuri Slyusar, CEO of United Aircraft. He added, according to what was reported by our partner media: “The more experience we have in the operations of different airlines, the better our aircraft will be.” Irwin.

In line with Russian import substitution efforts, there has been a desire to intensify aerospace cooperation with Belarusian entities, while increasing production rates.

“We are increasing the production of Russian aircraft. We have repeatedly visited Belarusian aviation factories,” says Slyusar. “It is important to move from the cooperation we had in aircraft repair and military programs to expanding our tasks towards civilian products,” he continued.

Slyusar also points out that Belarusian airlines could receive orders for “billions of rubles.” This indicates that both parties are already working together on the Tupolev Tu-214, the production of which will be resumed to meet the capacity demand of Russian operators.

According to information obtained by Aviacionline through Cirium Fleet Analyzer, the MC-21 has received 180 orders from Russian airlines.

he MC-21 It is a family of medium-range passenger aircraft developed by Rostec, with versions that can carry between 132 and 256 passengers. Initially, manufacturing was planned MC-21 Both with Russian PD-14 engines and with American Pratt & Whitney engines. They will propose a Russian alternative to Western aircraft families such as the A320 or 737, but also to replace other national aircraft such as Tu-204.

The version of the aircraft with a foreign engine and wing – the MC-21-300 – received basic type certification from Rosaviatsiya at the end of 2021. The first four of these aircraft were expected to be delivered at the end of 2022 to Russia. Airlines (part of Aeroflot Group).

After the imposition of sanctions in 2022 due to the invasion in Ukraine, the deadlines for the delivery of the aircraft were postponed until 2024. It is now expected that all MC-21 aircraft produced for sale will be equipped with the PD-14 only by the end of 2025 or early 2025. 2026.