Russian Superjet 100 continues flight tests

Russian Superjet 100 continues flight tests BERLIN, July 22, 2008 - Russia's new Superjet 100 medium-haul passenger airliner made its second test flight on May 24, the head of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company announced on Wednesday. The Superjet 100 project is a family of medium-range passenger aircraft developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau in cooperation with major American and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace, and Honeywell. "On Saturday, the Sukhoi Superjet 100 plane conducted a second test flight, which lasted for two and a half hours," Viktor Subbotin said at the Berlin Air Show ILA2008. "It increased its altitude from 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) to 3,000 meters (10,000 ft) and reached a horizontal velocity of 250 mph," the official said. Prior to certification testing, the plane has to undergo a series of preliminary flight tests at the aircraft manufacturing plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia's Far East. A total of four planes will be used in the certification program. Three additional planes are being assembled at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur plant. Subbotin said that Sukhoi planned to conclude the Superjet certification in the first half of 2009 and officially unveil the new aircraft at the International Paris Air Show in Le Bourget next year. "Once the plane has been certified we will immediately start deliveries of the plane to our customers," he added. Sukhoi plans to manufacture at least 700 Superjet 100s, and intends to sell 35% of them to North America, 25% to Europe, 10% to Latin America, and 7% to Russia and China. So far the company had secured 73 solid orders for the aircraft. The list price of a 95-seat base model is $28 million, but the company is currently working on both smaller and larger capacity modifications. The market for the Superjet 100 is estimated at around $100 billion for around 5,500 planes, up to 2023.