Russia's United Aircraft Corporation has celebrated a major milestone, with the first serial production standard example of the forthcoming Yakovlev MC-21 having taken its first test flight earlier today. Much like China's Comac C919, the MC-21 is designed to compete with major narrowbody twinjets like those in the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo families. This milestone marks a key step forward for Yakovlev as it looks to move towards full-scale serial production in anticipation of the MC-21-310's entry into service. Commenting on the flight, test pilot Roman Taskayev said that:"The first assembly line produced aircraft performed well, and the flight plan was completed in full." Credit: UACAccording to present fleet data made available by ch-aviation, 384 firm orders have been placed for the Yakovlev MC-21.