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.
"Confirmed orders from Russian air carriers have filled our SuperJet 100 production capacity for 2008-2009, about 50% in 2010, and partially in 2011," Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogosyan told reporters at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) 2007 exhibition in Malaysia.
So far, Sukhoi has secured over 70 orders for its regional aircraft and expects to increase the number to 100 by the end of the year. Aeroflot, Russia's leading air carrier, is one of its largest clients, with contracts for the delivery of at least 45 planes.
Sukhoi plans to produce 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.
Pogosyan said sales of SuperJet 100 also had good prospects on Southeast Asian markets.
"We are negotiating sales with air carriers from Indonesia, Vietnam, China and India. We have also had contacts with our Malaysian partners," the Sukhoi official said, adding that the main goal at present was to form efficient mechanisms of sales financing for each customer.
Pogosyan also said Sukhoi could build post-sales service centers in most prospective SuperJet markets.
"In Southeast Asia it could be Singapore, which is a key transportation hub in the region with developed logistics infrastructure and efficient management," he said.
Sukhoi held in September the first public presentation of the SuperJet 100 and said it was planning to start the first deliveries of the aircraft to customers in early 2008.
The catalogue price of a 95-seat basic version is $28 million, but the company is currently working on both smaller and larger capacity models of the SuperJet 100 series.
The overall market for the SuperJet 100 is estimated at about 5,500 planes, worth $100 billion, up to 2023.
