Russia Unveils New Superjet Plane

KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR (AFP, MN) - Russia on Wednesday rolled out a new regional passenger jet that it hopes will revive the country's civil aviation industry and rival similar models from Brazil and Canada.
The Superjet 100 is being developed by state-run jetmaker Sukhoi with Western partners at a factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia's Far East, some 8,000 kilometers east of Moscow.
"The first plane of the new Russia is of great importance, a priority project, because the domestic market is not enough for a world economy," First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said at the unveiling ceremony.
With the Superjet 100, Sukhoi hopes to succeed where Soviet-era jetmakers Ilyushin and Tupolev failed: in taking a large share of the world's booming passenger jet market.
The plane, which can fit up to 110 passengers, is due to undergo test flights later this year, and developers hope to be producing up to six planes a month for world markets by 2010.
Sukhoi is hoping U.S. and European authorities will certify the plane in 2008.
For officials, the project is a symbol of Russia's ambitions to diversify its increasing powerful economy away from a reliance on oil and gas exports towards manufacturing and hi-tech.
U.S. jetmaker Boeing, Italy's Alenia, and French companies Snecma and Thales are all involved in the project, for which Sukhoi expects to spend around $1 billion.
Alenia, part of Italian industrial giant Finmeccanica, owns a 25 percent stake in Sukhoi Aviation.
Russian carrier Aeroflot has ordered 15 of the Superjet 100s for $400 million and Italian regional carrier ItAli has put in an order for 10 planes.
There are 73 orders in total so far for the Superjet, mainly from Russian regional carriers.
Sukhoi is aiming to break into the regional jet market, which is booming and is currently dominated by Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier.
Sukhoi chief Mikhail Pogosian estimated the Superjet 100 could take up a fifth of the market for planes with between 70 and 100 seats, which is estimated at 5,000 jets over the next 20 years.
Sukhoi estimates the project will become profitable after the 300th jet.
Pogosian said the plane offered "comfort and efficiency," as well as a price tag of $28 million, or 25 percent lower than the Embraer 190.
Meanwhile, Igor Kalygin, the general constructor of the Tu-334 plane expressed doubts about Superjet 100 prospects.
In an interview with Russia's Trud daily newspaper, Kalygin said the rollout of Superjet was a "PR action" and the aircraft still required a lot of work to be done.
"It will be wheeled out of its hangar and then wheeled back in for a long time. For the time being, it is - as constructors put it - a ‘painted shell.' It hasn't flown yet, and it won't soon as it requires serious fitting-out, during which its flying capabilities such as flying range, weight, etc., will likely change for the worse," Kalygin told the paper.