On 3 February 2011 the developer of advanced Russian regional airliner Sukhoi SuperJet 100 has got the long-awaited document – the Type Certificate, which issued by the Interstate Aviation Committee’s Aircraft Registry on 28 February 2011. The SSJ100’s certification tests had been complete before the New Year’s Day, with the certification paperwork being handled throughout January.
The first production SuperJets are expected to be delivered to the launch customers in March and kick off passenger services soon afterwards.
The first production-standard SSJ100 (c/n 95007) earmarked for Armenian flag carrier Armavia conducted its first flight in Komsomolsk-on-Amur on 4 November last year. Following several test sorties from KnAAPO’s factory airfield, it was ferried to Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company’s flight test facility in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, for further tests on 10 November. It is this aircraft that completed the final flight test programme prior to obtaining the type certificate. The programme comprised 150 flying hours on standard routes production airliners will have to operate on. During those flights form Moscow to Ufa, Orenburg, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and Krasnodar, the reliability of all of the systems of the production-configuration airliner was assessed. Right after the New Year’s Day, the aircraft was given the paintjob of its customer, Armavia, and registration number EK-95015 at the Spektr-avia factory in Ulyanovsk.
The second SSJ100 (c/n 95008) earmarked for Aeroflot was painted right in Komsomolsk-on-Amur even before its maiden fight. The rollout of the plane in Aeroflot’s colours, which was given registration number RA-89001, took place on 24 December. Once the work has been complete on the interior of the cabin (at Aeroflot’s request, the aircraft is made in the two-class layout, with eight seats in the business class and 75 in the economy one), the plane will enter its acceptance trials expected in February or March. This done, it will be delivered to the customer.
In all, at least 12 production SSJ100 airliners are slated for delivery in 2011, with 10 to be accepted by Aeroflot and two by Armavia.
An important event of this year has been the deal clinched on 17 January by Russo-Italian joint venture SuperJet International and Mexican carrier InterJet. The contract stipulated firm order for 15 SSJ100s with the delivery starting from 2012 and with five options. The contract beefed up the SSJ100 orderbook up to 170 aircraft, of which 64 are designed for Russian carriers, e.g. Aeroflot, FLC, Avialeasing, and 106 for foreign customers. The latter include Armavia, Indonesian Kartika, Laotian Phongsavanh Airlines and Mexico’s Interjet airlines as well as a yet-unnamed ‘major European air carrier’ and leasing companies Pearl Aircraft (Bermudas) and Willis Lease Finance Corp. (United States).
