Irkut forecasts 980 MC-21 aircraft to be sold by 2035

MC-21 rollout took place this summer (Photo by Fyodor Borisov / Transport-Photo.com)

By 2035 the world’s demand for the Russian new MC-21 single-aisle airliner is estimated at 980 airframes, said Kirill Budaev, Vice President for sales and marketing of Irkut corporation, MC-21 manufacturer, at Wings of the Future forum.

The main part of the sales (43%) accrues to Russia and the CIS countries. 28% of orders are expected to be from Asia and Oceania, 11% – from Latin America, 8% – from Russia, 6% – from the Middle East, 4% – from Africa. North America is not represented in the forecast.

All in all, according to Budaev the world demand for commercial aircraft in the next 20 years will amount to 29 thousand airframes (the smallest aircraft included in the analysis are Airbus A319). To compare with: according to Boeing estimates the world demand will amount to 39,620 aircraft by 2035, according to Airbus estimates – 33,070 aircraft.

As it was reported this summer, when MC-21 rollout took place, Irkut received 175 firm orders for the aircraft with more than 100 preliminary orders.

According to Budaev MC-21 test flights will start in Q1 2017. The certification is planned to take place on 2018.