Q. The Russian government supports the MS-21 program and promises investment worth billions of dollars. Is that correct?

Yes, it is correct. We have estimated a total budget for this project at between 7 and 8 billion US dollars. Roughly half of that money United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is promised by the Russian government, and shall come from the budget of the Russian Federation.

We have a business plan for sales in the next twenty years. It calls for between 1,000 and 1,200 sales.

Yes, it is our estimation of the total market for the MS-21. We expect that two-thirds of the sales will be outside of Russia.

Q. The MS-21 program seems to be moving fast. Do you think so?

Yes, we started this program three years ago with a conceptual design. By now, we have completed pre design and chosen most of the suppliers for this new aircraft.

Q. Whose engines will power the MS-21? Will Pratt&Whitney be the only engine supplier?

No. We give our customers two engine options. The western supplier is Pratt&Whitney with PW1000-series. The Russian alternative is provided by United Engine Corporation with the PD-14, which is a completely new design with promising characteristics.

Q. Are you going to have a composite wing on the MS-21?

Yes, we are going to make a composite wing for this aircraft.

Q. Will fuselage also be made of composite materials?

For the fuselage we will use Aluminum alloys, because we are not ready yet to do fuselage with composite materials. Besides, we do not see advantages for fuselage to be made of composite materials. Maybe after awhile we would reconsider this. It may happen we choose to have a composite fuselage also.

Q. The Boeing 787 is two and a half years late. Airbus is also having problems with the A380. What lessons can you take to make sure that the MS-21 moves smoother? Can you make this airplane in the time promised?

If we, the aircraft manufacturers, had made all our steps in time, we would have been much more successful. But we try hard to keep our promises and learn on mistakes of our colleagues. We must try to do every step in time.

Q. Are there any lessons you are learning from the Sukhoi Superjet 100 program? Are they helping you as you move forward with the MS-21? Obviously, Sukhoi has been suffering some problems with timely availability of SaM146 engines.

In actual fact, we try to use every lesson learnt on the Superjet program when working on the MS-21. In particular, we invite specialists from Sukhoi and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft who participated in the Superjet program, to share their experience with those who work on the MS-21. So, both teams share their visions and both make use of experience leant from earlier programs while working on new projects.

Q. So, there is a Superjet team, and there is a separate MS-21 team. Are these people different? Or do they work under a single control?

Actually, not only employees of the Irkut Corporation – which is the head enterprise in UAC structure on the MS-21 project. There are many other people who take part in the design process on the MS-21. These include specialists from Sukhoi and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, who actually developed the Superjet, as well as Ilyushin, Tupolev and Beriev. In fact, all of the Russian design bureaux are in the process, and all contribute to this project.

Q. You said the biggest part of the market for these airplanes – two-thirds – is outside of Russia. This necessitates setting up a global support network to support the aircraft worldwide. Are you talking to western partners on that issue?

Of course! We are in the process of shaping our global maintenance network and after sales support system. We will make use of such a global player like Lufthansa Technic. Before we supply the first MS-21 aircraft and put it into airline service, we shall have our network of support prepared.

Q. Is Lufthansa Technic the only one, or are there any other organizations to whom you are talking to?

Honestly, we are communicating only with Lufthansa right now. But we can talk to other organizations in the future.

Q. You are going into the market that is dominated by Airbus and Boeing. They will fight hard. Let’s talk about competitive advantage that you can bring into the market now dominated by Airbus and Boeing.

Our aircraft shall exceed the performance of the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 series in fuel burn and operational costs. Even after expected re-engining of these types, we will still keep an advantage over the 737 and A320 in fuel efficiency and operational costs. And that is why we are optimistic about that program. Besides, there are some points with the production rates. We are planning to achieve production rate of some 70 airframes annually. Roughly, it makes six airframes per month. That compares to 36 and 40-42 narrow body jets that each of the western makers is producing. We believe we will take a niche of our own, even taking account of the fact that Boeing and Airbus dominate this market today. Also, we feel that the market is ready to accept a third player.

Q. One of the key things now is the environment. To make sales in North America, Europe and even Asia, you have to have a “green” airplane.

The use of the Pratt&Whitney engine is, just in case, meant to provide “greenness” of this aircraft, including low emission levels with NOx, carbon oxide, as well low noise with a big margin.

Q. Let’s talk a little bit more about sales. How many firm orders have MS-21 won so far?

Order book for this aircraft is being formed. On 21 July Crecom Burj Resources Limited awarded Irkut a firm order for 50 MS-21 aircraft. Thus, this company based in Malaysia became launch customer for the MS-21. After that, we have had a few Russian and foreign companies who also signed in, but most of agreements are yet to be firmed up.

Q. All of the airframe will it be built in Russia. Is that so? Or do you think about some sort of global cooperation?

Most of the parts for the airframe will be produced in Russia, that’s true. As for composite parts, especially wing, we will start to produce their components outside of Russia. We will do it in cooperation with European companies. But then we will make the next step, and undertake a localization process so that to produce the wing in Russia.

Q. Do you have a technical capability to do the whole wing with composite materials?

We have established a new enterprise especially to make the composite wing. It will be a greenfield project, or brownfield, if you like.

Q. I know that some Russian aircraft (even though they fly very well) is costly to operate (outside of Russia), because the maintenance costs are very high. Maintenance is always a serious consideration for airlines, it has to have lower cost on the MS-21. Western aircraft in the class of the MS-21 can fly 2,000 cycles a year or more. This means your airplane has to be very reliable. What do you think about this?

From scratch the MS-21 program was being carried out under cost-control to ensure cost reductions during development, production and then in operation. Cost-control parameters are those that we use during the design phase, not just regarding airframe, but also onboard systems. Using cost-control criteria shall help us reduce downtime, time when airframe and systems are being serviced. We use these criteria ourselves and we make sure our suppliers also use it. We handed over our specifications to our suppliers so that will also comply with them. So, we do not expect any surprises at the end of the process.

Q. They said Crecom agreed to pay three billion dollars for 50 MS-21. This means one airframe sells for 60 million dollars. Is that the price you give to everyone who wants to buy the airplane?

Irkut Corporation is responsible for sales, you’d better ask them! Generally speaking, though, we have to charge less than Airbus and Boeing. We understand that we are just a new player in the market, so we need to sell our wares cheaper.

Q. The MS-21 follows the path of the Sukhoi Superjet 100, but the new airplane is bigger. If you make new steps forward, there must be bigger airplanes. Will Russia try to re-enter widebody market?

We are behind western manufacturers in technologies of widebody passenger airliners. Right now we are not ready to complete with the Airbus A350. We are going to spend several more years on shaping our concept for the next generation widebody aircraft. We will be studying various aerodynamics layouts, including flying wing, flying fuselage, different propulsion (probably running on alternative fuels). I think that during the next five years UAC can work out our vision of such an aircraft so that it has some market perspective, some footing. And then, later on, we will attempt preliminary design of such an airplane. So, we did not give up the very idea to produce widebody passenger aircraft, but we believe such an aircraft should be created on another level of technology. We need to develop the requisite technology first, and then leverage on it.