The first flight of the Russian narrow-bodied airplane MS-21 left the final assembly shop at the Irkut Corporation aviation plant. This is on Thursday, May 4, Izvestia writes with reference to a source in the aviation industry. According to the publication, MS-21 completed the next stage of test tests, and the final stage of preparation for the first test flight. The liner, declared as a competitor to Boeing-737 MAX and Airbus A320neo, was due to take off in February-March 2017, but the time was delayed. In October 2016 it became known that the support of sales of MS-21 to 2025 would require about 200 billion rubles.

Almost 100 billion are needed as subsidies to leasing companies in order to establish a competitive interest rate on the MS-21, another 75 billion will go to the manufacturer of the liner for the creation of an after-sales service system and a guarantee of the residual value. The medium-medium-sized passenger plane MS-21 is being replaced by outdated vessels of the Tu-154 type. The aircraft is capable of taking on board from 150 to 210 passengers. The maximum flight distance is up to five thousand kilometers. At the end of 2018 or early 2019, the first flight instances of MS-21 should be delivered to Aeroflot.

Original article: The first plane MS-21 left the assembly shop.