The single-aisle MS-21 family of passenger aircraft, due to enter service in 2012, is designed to seat between 130 and 170 passengers and to fly up to 5,000 kilometers (3,125 miles), or 6,350 kilometers (4,000 miles) for the longer-range model.
At a meeting in Moscow to outline the advanced engine concept for the MS-21 plane and create the project design and production team, the Salut CEO, Yury Yeliseyev, said if the joint Russian-Ukrainian project won the bid, the engine could be installed in the new aircraft in two and a half years. He said it would take a similar period to complete flight tests.
Salut and Motor Sich have already jointly developed a number of aircraft engines.
The cost of projects to develop 4+ and fifth-generation aircraft engines have been estimated at $4.5-6 billion dollars.
The MS-21 plane is being developed by Russia's major manufacturing companies - Ilyushin, Tupolev and Yakovlev - to replace the aging Tu-154, which currently services some 80% of Russia's passenger and freight traffic and also the Airbus A-320 and Boeing 737 aircraft.
The new jet is expected to be 10-15% more efficient than the Boeing and Airbus of its class. However, its target price will be just $35 million, $20 million below that of the similarly-sized Boeing 737-700.
