Airliner World – April 2018

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width is 12ft 6in (3.81m)
which is 4in (11cm) more
than the A320neo, but nearly 11in
(27cm) wider than the MAX and almost
21in (53cm) than the C Series. This
has enabled the manufacturer to fit
18.5in-wide (47cm) seats from Zodiac
Aerospace in a 2-2 configuration
in Business Class and a 3-3 layout in
Economy with a 20in (51cm) aisle. It
also offers a fast turnaround version
with 18in (45cm) wide seats and a 22.5in
(57cm) aisle as an option. Large
windows, ambient lighting and a cabin
pressure equalling 6,000ft all enhance
passenger comfort. Irkut is still
assessing onboard inflight entertain-
ment systems, but Aeroflot has already
announced that it will fit its aircraft
with Wi-Fi.

Testing Phase

Construction of the first prototype

began in early 2016, followed by a high-

profile roll-out on June 8 that year. It

was almost another year before the

type’s maiden flight on May 28, 2017

from Irkutsk Airport, which lasted just

30 minutes. During the early months of

testing, aircraft 0001 ramped up hours

to confirm the jet’s flying characteris-

tics, stability, controllability and onboard

systems before it was fitted with more

than 750 sensors for the next phase

of testing operating at heights up to

33,000ft. During a 6hr 12mins sortie on

October 17 the jet was ferried to the new

YDB Flight Test Facility in Zhukovsky,

making a spectacular entrance with a

low flypast down the runway. Since

November further development flying

has been undertaken and the

certification process has started which,

the company says, will include around

1,000 flights.

It was expected the second flying air-

craft, 0003, would join the test

programme in December, but this has

been delayed until March, while jets

0004 and 0006 will be completed later

this year. The second airframe, 0002

is being used for static testing only and

0005 will be involved in fatigue testing

once completed in early 2018.

Irkut is targeting certification of

the P&W-powered version by mid-

2019, with company President Oleg

Demchenko explaining: “The PD-14

testing on jets 0001 and 0003 was

originally planned to start this year

but has now slipped to 2019 with

BELOW • In the Business

Class cabin Irkut is

fitting 18.5in-wide

seats manufactured

by Zodiac Aerospace.

BELOW RIGHT • How the

inside of the MC-21

cabin might look in a

two-class configuration

with 16 Business Class

seats in a 2-2 layout

and 147 Economy

Class seats in a 3-3

arrangement.