Sukhoi originally planned to start test flights of the aircraft at the end of 2007, but ran into technical problems and had to postpone testing until now, which may affect future production and delivery schedules.
"We have completed all preliminary ground testing. The aircraft is finally ready for flight tests," Mikhail Pogosyan, Sukhoi's general director, said during a visit to an aircraft-manufacturing plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia's Far East.
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.
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.
The first aircraft will be supplied to Russia's flagship carrier Aeroflot, which has ordered 30 planes and secured an option for additional 15 aircraft. According to the 2006 contract, the deliveries should start at the end of 2008.
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, a Sukhoi subsidiary, earlier said it has secured a total of 73 solid orders for Superjet 100.
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 SuperJet 100 has an estimated $100 billion market for around 5,500 planes, through 2023.
