On 18 September Aeroflot signed with three Rostec companies, United Aircraft Corporation, Aviacapital-Service and United Engine Corporation for 90 more MC-21-310s. The 2023 firm batch of 18 remains. The two contracts now total 108. Deliveries on the new paper start in 2029, 14 that year, then 18, 24 and 34 through 2032. The first 18 are still aimed at late 2027 and 2028. The package includes simulators, crew and engineer training, maintenance software and 22 years of technical support. Vladimir Putin joined by video. Rostec called it one of the largest civil contracts in Russian aviation. That is a description of a signature, not of a production system.
The aircraft on the page is the MC-21-310 with the PD-14 engine, the version rebuilt after Western suppliers left the programme. Air Data News notes the type has not finished certification in that fully domestic configuration. Seventeen airframes for Aeroflot are reported in various stages at Irkutsk. Assembly is not the same as a type certificate, a production certificate or a reliable engine shop. UEC is on the contract because the order is worthless if the PD-14 cannot be built, supported and pulled on a Tuesday in Novosibirsk. Avionics, composites and cabin systems have the same problem, a sovereign bill of materials that must work at airline tempo, not exhibition tempo.
Financing is inside the state. Aviacapital-Service is the lessor. Aeroflot is the captive customer. That closes the order book. It does not prove residual value, exportability or what happens if the airline’s cash and the factory’s schedule diverge. Maintenance support for 22 years is the sentence that will matter after the first winter. Dispatch reliability on a new Russian narrowbody will be measured in cancellations passengers already know how to count. A 108-aircraft commitment that delivers eight jets in 2027 and then slips is an industrial delay with a flag on it. A commitment that meets 2029-32 rates, with engines on wing and parts in stock, is the only result that converts ambition into a fleet.
The earlier letters of intent for 200-plus aircraft were optimism. One hundred and eight firm tails with a support clause. Russia will pass it only if Irkutsk, UEC and the training pipeline produce aeroplanes that leave the gate on time.