Aeroflot is in the final stage of signing a firm contract for 90 additional Yakovlev MS-21 aircraft, with chief executive Sergei Alexandrovsky expecting the deal to be completed in the very near future. The order would lift the airline’s planned MS-21 fleet to 108 jets, including the 18 already under contract, and make Aeroflot the launch anchor for the Russian narrowbody programme.
The remaining issue is financing, after United Aircraft Corporation chief Vadim Badekha said the deal had already been agreed on technical and legal terms. Aeroflot has been building its fleet plan around the domestically produced MS-21 as Russia seeks to reduce dependence on Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The aircraft is intended for medium-haul operations and is central to the country’s broader civil aviation industrial strategy.
Aeroflot has previously indicated it aims to receive the full 108-aircraft total by 2030. One report also put the airline’s preferential price for the jets at about 3.6 billion rubles each, with state support covering the gap to market pricing.