MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian flagship air carrier Aeroflot signed a contract with the Airbus company Monday for the supply of seven A321 jetliners starting in the fourth quarter of 2006, a company official said.
"For its A321's, powered by CFM International's CFM56-5 engines, Aeroflot has chosen a comfortable, spacious two-class configuration, designed to accommodate 170 passengers," Alexander Bocharov said, adding that the company was planning to use the A321 jets for domestic and European flights.
Aeroflot was the first Russian buyer and operator of Airbus jets. It began operating A310's in 1992. It was also the first air carrier to use A319 and A321 jets in the CIS. The company currently has in service eight ?319's, seven ?320's and three ?321's.
Orders for aircraft in the A320 series, which includes the ?318, ?319, ?320 and ?321 models, have now exceeded 3,700 jets, with 2,500 of the aircraft already delivered to 200 buyers and operators worldwide.
Airbus, headquartered in Toulouse, France, is a global company with design and production units in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain, and subsidiaries in the United States, China and Japan.
Airbus has a regional office in Moscow for marketing and public relations with the Russian aviation industry. It also has a customer service office to provide support to Russian carriers operating its aircraft.
