Izhavia (I8, Izhevsk) is considering placing an order with the Yakovlev Aircraft Corporation (YAK, Moscow Sheremetyevo) for an undisclosed number of MC-21 regional jets CEO Alexander Gorodilov has said. Announcing the carrier's short-term strategy, Gorodilov said the airline had settled on the MC-21 over the SSJ 100/95 from Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (Zhukovsky) given the former's higher capacity of 140-160 seats.
"We are carefully looking at a promising model - the MC-21 aircraft. It will start to roll into service with airlines in 2018 and as such, we want to fill in the period 2014-2018 with some form of "transition model" which we are now very close to finalizing - I won't disclose what it is for now," he said.
Izhavia, which expects the 'transitional aircraft' to enter service in the summer of 2015, currently operates eight Yak-42s, three An-24s, and one Tu-134 on domestic Russian charter and scheduled passenger flights.
