Update: an earlier version of this story stated this aircraft had performed its first flight fitted with 100% Russian-made components. The article has been amended to reflect the fact that three systems onboard were foreign-made (drivers, brakes and generators), as stated by Rostec in a press release.

The first MC-21-310 airliner made almost entirely with domestically produced components kicked-off its certification flight test program in Russia on June 26, 2025, as first reported by AGN.

The aircraft took off from Zhukovsky Airport (ZIA) near Moscow, location of a number of Russian aerospace research and development facilities, and landed at the same airport after four hours in the air.

This was, however, not the first flight for this aircraft, since in May 2025 it had already completed a nonstop flight between the manufacturing facility in Irkutsk, Siberia, and Zhukovsky.

Although the original version of the MC-21 first flew in 2017, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 defense conglomerate Rostec decided to replace all foreign-made components onboard this aircraft type. Crucially, this includes the engines, with the Pratt & Wittney original engine choice having been replaced by the newly developed Russian-made PD-14 high-bypass turbofan engine.

The certification of the MC-21-310 has been delayed several times and it is currently expected to be completed by the summer of 2026.

Russian government-owned airline Aeroflot expects to receive up to 108 MC-21-310 aircraft between the end of 2026 and 2030, nearly half the originally intended number for this period. According to the ch-aviation database, Aeroflot has a total of 198 MC-21-310s on order. The remaining 90 aircraft are slated to be delivered after 2030.

Russia’s other major civilian aircraft program, the Superjet SJ-100, has undergone a similar process of import substitution. The first SJ-100 made entirely with Russian-made components had its maiden flight in August 2023.