By NICOLA CLARK
Published: July 9, 2012
NewYork Times:
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND — Sukhoi expects to finalize orders for as many as 40 of its Superjet 100 passenger aircraft from Asian airlines before the end of this year, proof, the head of Sukhoi’s parent company said Monday, that the fatal crash of a demonstration plane two months ago had done little to deter customers or partners.
Luke Macgregor/Reuters
A Sukhoi Superjet 100 landed Sunday in England. It is the first jetliner to be made in Russia since the end of the Soviet Union.
“We are confident in the success of the program, not only from the standpoint of our customers — existing and potential — but also from that of our supplier team,” said Mikhail Pogosyan, chief executive of United Aircraft, parent of the Russian plane company.
The forthcoming orders are from three Southeast Asian carriers, which Mr. Pogosyan would not identify. Last month Sukhoi received a firm order for six Superjet 100s, with a list price of more than $212 million, from TransAero, Russia’s second-largest airline after Aeroflot. Sukhoi says it has orders and commitments for more than 200 of the planes.
A Superjet 100 crashed into a mountainside during a promotional flight in Indonesia on May 9, killing all 45 people on board. The fate of the jetliner — the first new model to be produced in Russia since the end of the Soviet Union — was a crushing blow to a national aerospace industry eager for revival.
The Indonesian authorities are expected to publish their findings later this year. Preliminary analysis of the plane’s flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders have not revealed any major technical fault with the aircraft, Mr. Pogosyan said.
“We have been in close contact with the investigation board,” he said. “Based on the data we have seen, there are no questions as to the technical status of the aircraft.”
Aviation safety experts have speculated that the cause of the crash may have been the result of human error — either by the plane’s Russian pilots, who would have been relatively unfamiliar with the rugged terrain of West Java, or by air traffic controllers.
The Superjet 100, which seats between 75 and 100 passengers, entered commercial service last year and is now operated by two carriers: Aeroflot, the Russian flag carrier, has eight of the planes, and the Armenian carrier, Armavia, has one.
Aeroflot’s ninth Superjet was on display at the Farnborough International Airshow , but it was not scheduled to operate any demonstration flights during the show, which runs until Friday.
The expo, the world’s largest aerospace bazaar, got off to a subdued start Monday, with relatively few commercial announcements, reflecting widespread uncertainty about the near-term future of the global economy and for air travel demand. Boeing said that it had received a firm order for 75 of its 737 single-aisle jets from Air Lease, with options to buy a further 25 of the planes. The order, worth more than $7 billion at list prices, is the first from a leasing company.
