New bird in the sky

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attends a ceremony to present the Irkut MC-21 mid-range jet airliner at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant (Irkut Corporation) in Irkutsk, Russia.

A new medium-range passenger plane which Russian media said on Wednesday was superior to its Western-made counterparts in many respects and would be snapped up by both Russian and foreign carriers.

Irkut Corporation's new MC-21 passenger plane is still undergoing testing but is due to enter serial production next year. Medvedev said it was important that Russia remained in what he called the top league of aircraft makers despite the high costs involved.

Squeezed by Western sanctions over its role in the Ukraine crisis, the Russian government is trying to rejuvenate domestic industrial production to make the country less dependant on foreign firms. The plane will be built in two variants, the MC-21-300 which will have 160-211 seats, and the MC-21-200 which will have 130-165 seats.