It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superjet! Russia's Sukhoi to boost production of SSJ-100 airliners

Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi Civil Aircraft plans to deliver 28 Sukhoi SuperJet 100 (SSJ-100) airliners to customers next year, according to the company’s president, Alexander Rubtsov.

“This year was challenging for us, there was a shortage of aircraft engines, and we delivered 26 aircraft to our clients. Nevertheless, we expect to reach 28 next year, in the future, we plan to deliver 30-35 aircraft per year over the next seven years,” he said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

Sukhoi Superjet 100 © Reuters / Luke MacGregor

Rubtsov noted that 136 aircraft are in permanent commercial operation, the majority of them are used for commercial transport of passengers.

A cabin crew member of Russian carrier Aeroflot poses in front of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 airplane © Reuters / Pascal Rossignol

Earlier this year, the company inked memorandums with Iran on the delivery of 40 SSJ-100s. Tehran will receive the new SSJ100R version of the airliner by 2022, according to Rubtsov.

Sukhoi SuperJet 100 is Russia’s newest twin-engine regional passenger aircraft. It began operating commercially in 2011. The range of the base version is 4,400 km with the capacity to seat 98 passengers. The aircraft are in service with airlines in Laos, Mexico, and Russia. The largest operator in Russia is Aeroflot.

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