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THE SUPERJET [ COMMERCIAL AVIATION ]
REGIONAL JETLINER NEEDS
MORE EXPORT ORDERS

Atul Chandra

The 100 seat SuperJet regional airliner built by Sukhoi Civil Aircraft 4,000 aircraft.
Company will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its maiden flight The SuperJet was to aiming at the 75-100 seat
in May, this year. The SSJ-100 entered service in June 2011, when category as compared to the Airbus A220
Aeroflot made the first commercial SSJ100 flight between Moscow (erstwhile Bombardier C Series), which could
and Saint Petersburg. The early years of optimism about the air- seat 100-130 passengers and Embraer’s E-Jet
craft’s future have evaporated since then, with orders outside which targeted the 80-140 seat category. The
Russia and Eastern Europe being hard to come by for the regional airframer has been unable to build on export
jetliner. As per Aviation Week’s 2019 Fleet & MRO Forecast data, successes, such as orders for the SSJ100 from
out of the of the 197 in-service SSJ100s, Eastern Europe accounts CityJet in Europe and Interjet in Brazil. However,
for 137 aircraft. This fleet is expected to grow to 500 aircraft by with these airlines reportedly unhappy with
2028, the forecast reports. According to UAC’s annual Market the performance of the aircraft, orders from
Outlook for the next 20 years (2018-2037), the total demand for Russian airlines have proved a lifeline for the
new passenger jetliners with 30-110 seats stands at approximately airframer along with orders from Thailand. Iran
which was thought to be a strong prospect for
the SSJ100 has not resulted in any orders
thus far.

The airframer announced orders in February
from Thai carrier, Kom Airlines for six SSJ-
100s worth approximately US$300 million
(at list prices). Delivery of the first aircraft is
scheduled to take place in Autumn this year
and the last aircraft will be delivered in 2020.
The aircraft are configured to seat 100 passen-
gers. The SSJ100 is already flying in Thailand
as three business versions of the SSJ100 are
operated by the Royal Thai Air Force. Other
customers which have signed Letters of Intent
are Slovenian carrier ADRIA Airways and Dubai
based charter carrier Alexcina Airways.

ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE January/February 2019 | 35