MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) — As much as 170 MC-21 passenger jets have been ordered in Russia by leasing companies and Aeroflot airlines, Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Andrei Boginsky said on Wednesday.
"We have about 170 [MC-21] jets ordered by the Russian leasing companies and Aeroflot, there is also an interest [in these jets] abroad but no firm contracts," Boginsky told RIA Novosti on the sidelines of a business forum in Mexico City.
According to the minister, the MC-21 jets should be put into serial production by the end of 2018, while the first flight is expected in the first quarter of 2017.
The new Russian MC-21 mid-range airliner was first presented earlier in June at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant. Different modifications of the jet will be able to carry up to 211 passengers.