Pobeda not to buy MC-21 instead of Boeing 737 Max

MOSCOW, Apr 3 (PRIME) -- Pobeda, a low-cost subsidiary of the national flagship air carrier Aeroflot, is not considering buying Russia-made MC-21 medium-range aircraft to replace Boeing 737 Max planes, a spokesperson for Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov told PRIME on Wednesday.

“Podeba cannot buy MC-21 as an alternative to Boeing 737 Max, as the economy of a low-cost airline envisages a fleet of planes of the same producer,” the person said.

In March, Vedomosti business daily reported that the government’s sub-commission on the defense industry had suggested that Pobeda buy MC-21 planes instead of Boeing 737 MAX. Pobeda asked the government’s commission on imports substitution to buy 50 Boeing 737 MAX planes in 2018, and already signed a firm contract to buy 20 with delivery scheduled for 2019–2021.

The Federal Air Transport Agency banned flights of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in Russia’s airspace until further notice after a crash of Ethiopian Airlines’ plane of the type that killed 157 people in early March. Another aircraft of the same model of Indonesia’s Lion Air crashed in October 2018.

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