What have the new Russian ‘business jets’ to offer?

During last month’s Dubai Airshow, Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) not only highlighted the commercial version of the Irkut MC-21-310 but also of the new Sukhoi/Aurus Business Jet. And it sounded out if the market is interested in a business jet version of the MC-21, called the MCBJ. What have the new Russian ‘business jets’ to offer? When it was unveiled during MAKS2021 in July, the Sukhoi was still called the SBJ. Four months later in Dubai, and the aircraft has been renamed Aurus Business Jet. This follows after the investment from the Russian maker of luxury cars, Aurus Motors, of reportedly RUB 900 million, some $12.1 million. Outfitted by Russian firm Tulpar, the Aurus is yours for some $39 million. That’s about half the price of an Airbus ACJ TwoTwenty, the type with which Airbus plans to go head-on with corporate jet makers like Dassault, Gulfstream, and Bombardier. The Aurus Business Jet got plenty of attention at the Dubai Airshow. (Richard Schuurman) AirInsight was able to have a look inside the Aurus, but its sales manager was too busy receiving guests and had no time to answer media questions. What we saw is what Aurus in its brochure calls ‘unbiased luxury’. Within the 20.42-meter cabin length and 118.7 cubic meters of volume, you get luxury divided into six segments with a cabin height of 2.12 meters. At the front is the Welcome Area also used for the crew, followed by the VIP zone or a meeting room with six seats and tables. After passing the lavatory section, you enter the Lounge and conference area with a sofa and four individual leather seats. Further aft is the Master Suite (main picture) with a double bed and one seat. As on most corporate jets, there is a bathroom at the back, with a shower cabin with eighty liters of water. Inside the Aurus: this is the lounge area, with a sofa and four seats. (Richard Schuurman) The layout can be changed easily to add more office space or lounge area. Or remove the Master Suite and swap this for a conventional First or Business Class seating arrangement, but Aurus says this VVIP configuration is ideally suited for nineteen passengers. In this configuration, the basic Aurus has a range of 4.710 kilometers (2.543 nm) but with seven auxiliary fuel tanks or 8.145 liters extra it can do 7.600 kilometers (4.100 nm). The Maximum Take-Off Weight is 49.450 kilograms. Aurus is offering the Sukhoi with seven other cabin configurations, including the Government-version with eight First Class and 48 Economy Class seats, the Shared Charter spec (18 seats), the Corporate Charter (56 Business Class seats), the Flying Hotel (33 First Class), and the Sportjet (40 seats and a ‘doctor station’). There is also a Medevac version with 18 seats and four medical modules, plus a Flying Casino with 16 seats and a casino table. High-speed internet is optional. Shorter range is Achilles Heel of the Aurus While its cabin volume is bigger than that of the ACJ TwoTwenty (73 cubic meters), even with auxiliary tanks, the range of the Aurus falls short by 1.400 nautical miles of that of the Airbus (5.650 nm). Both are a long way off the Bombardier Global 7500’s 7.700 nm range or 7.500 nm for the Gulfstream 700 and Dassault Falcon 10X, aircraft with which Airbus likes to compare its TwoTwenty. At 1.87 meters for the Global, 1.90 meters for the Gulfstream 700, and 2.03 meters for the Falcon, all three have a lower cabin height than the Aurus and the Airbus. So while wider and more spacious than some of the other business aircraft, the Aurus’ Achilles Heel is its very modest range compared to western-built aircraft. Which all use more fuel-efficient engines than the Russian aircraft with its PowerJet SAM 146s, the joint product of Saturn and Safran. The lower price of $39 million will be an attractive selling point. As far as cabin quality is concerned, we were unable to make a judgment during our brief visit in Dubai. While it looked ok, the level of detail of the Airbus ACJ320neo we also toured was more impressive. The Irkut MC-21-300/310 should have three more versions: the shorter -200, the MCBJ, and likely the stretched -400. This is the -310 during her Dubai Airshow flight demonstration. (Richard Schuurman) The Irkut MCBJ will be based on the MC-21-200 While the Aurus is actually on offer, the Irkut MCBJ is still a paper plane only. Vice President of Marketing, Kirill Budaev, said at the Dubai Airshow that the aircraft will be based on the MC-21-200, which itself hasn’t been launched. Even then, Irkut has offered the MCBJ since February this year. It has a six-section cabin including the VIP passenger zone, conference hall with dining and sitting options, a ’Club 6’ meeting room, the VIP Coupe zone with seats and sofas, and an ‘Escort zone’. This is a regular passenger compartment with three rows of outward-looking First Class seats. The MCBJ leaflet distributed in Dubai didn’t contain a shower spa facility. Irkut says the cabin has accommodation for 6-8 VIP passengers or large delegations of up to thirty passengers. One of the potential cabin versions of the Irkut MCBJ. (Irkut Corporation) With its 4.06 meters fuselage cross-section or 3.80 meters cabin width, the MCBJ will surely be one of the most spacious single-aisle business jets. Cabin height isn’t stated, but should at least rival that of the 2.25 meters of the ACJ319neo/ACJ320neo. In the MC-21-310 on display in Dubai, we could stand up easily. With a regular fuel system, the aircraft has a range of 6.500 kilometers (3.509 nm). Additional fuel tanks in the cargo compartment bring the range to 10.000 kilometers (5.400 nm) but reduce cargo volume from 48.8 to 22.6 cubic meters. This means the MCBJ will be no match for the Airbus ACJ320neo with its 11.000km/6.000 nm range or even 12.960 km/7.000 nm for the Boeing BBJ MAX 7. The future of both business jets is still very early days. As with the commercial variants of both the Sukhoi and Irkut, their business jet siblings are predominantly for the Russian home market. Price could be a deciding differentiator for some potential customers, just like that with the airliner versions.

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