Arkhangelsk is located at the White Sea coast and the aircraft, which is powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1400G engines – will carry out 20 flights during the test program.
Irkut says the region experiences a combination of high humidity and low temperatures, conducive to ice formation on aircraft surfaces.
The Russian planemaker has five MC-21 jets in its fleet. Four of them are the -300 variant with the PW1400G engines, while one is a -310 with the Russian-built Aviadvigatel PD-14.
With the MC-21 jetliners, Russia aims to compete with Airbus' A320neo and Boeing's 737 MAX jets.
