Renaming the developmental MC-21 narrowbody is still under consideration by Russian manufacturer Irkut, although it will wait until first flight is achieved before making a firm decision.
Oleg Demchenko, president of the company, says he would "prefer" switching the designation to the Yak-242 to better reflect the design bureau behind the twinjet.
"A designer is like a writer," he says. "If there is no name on the title page of the book he will be very upset for a long time."
MC-21 was originally conceived as a neutral moniker to avoid any conflict when Irkut and then-design partner Ilyushin were planning to launch a new programme.
Demchenko says that although he is "for the Yak-242" he is happy to hold fire on any rebranding.
"It is quite possible that we are going to come up with this kind of name, but now the name is not important. What is important is to build the aircraft and start flying and perform certification tests."
Source: Cirium Dashboard
