Irkut gearing up for MC-21 production launch

Irkut Corporation is readying a final assembly line for its new MС-21 narrowbody aircraft seating 150 to 210 passengers. The airliner is set to enter service in 2016.
One of the production buildings at the Irkutsk aircraft plant will shortly be overhauled to accommodate the assembly shop. Irkut hopes to launch MС-21 production at a rate of 70 airframes a year, eventually reaching an annual output of 84 units. At this year’s Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Irkut contracted the German mechanical and plant engineering group Duerr to develop, manufacture, and install rigging for the MС-21 wing mating and final assembly line.

According to Alexander Veprev, General Director of Irkutsk Aviation Plant, 10.8 billion rubles (around $380 million at the current exchange rate) has been invested over the past six years in preparing MС-21 production launch. Another 20 billion rubles or so will be required in the next few years. Irkut says overall investment had been originally expected at 40 billion rubles but some of the planned tooling and rigging work was later cancelled.