To maximize competitive edge, the designers have consciously avoided the long-haul market. The market for wide-bodied passenger aircraft is dominated by Boeing and Airbus. It would be pointless to compete with their latest designs, such as the Boeing-787 Dreamliner or the giant Airbus A-380, which can seat between 500 and 800 passengers. The niche for narrow-bodied jet liners carrying 150 to 180 travelers is another matter. True, there are rival models here, too: particularly the Boeing-737, the Airbus A-320. But Airbus is set to phase out the A-320 to provide room for new orders. By the time the MS-21 is certified and airborne, A-320s will no longer be produced, leaving a gap in the market that Irkut hopes to exploit.
The problem with the MS-21 is this - its "estimated" introduction / certification date was seen as being "around" the year 2015. By that time most of the aircraft it was designed to "replace" will more than likely have been retired and scrapped. Most of Russia's leading Airlines(Aeroflot and S-7 "Sibir" etc.) will have retired their IL-86 and Tu-154 after 2012. And those Airlines won't wait for the MS-21, they will buy A-320 or B-737.
By the end of 2013 the project was progressing to a first flight in June 2015 and certification two years later. Irkut claimed to have 256 commitments, of which 135 were firm, for the MC-21, which will be offered in two variants, a 150-seat -200 type and 181-seat -300 type. The narrowbody draws extensively on Western expertise, with Rockwell Collins avionics and, most notably, Pratt & Whitney's PW1000G geared turbofan engine. UTC Aerospace Systems (formerly Hamilton Sundstrand) and Zodiac are also suppliers.
