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.
"The first stage of the technical re-equipping has been completed. And the first planes are being manufactured. The second phase envisions the production of 20-30 aircraft a year. The next re-equipping stage is calculated to produce 70 planes," Mikhail Pogosyan told journalists.
The whole project to manufacture Superjet 100 medium-haul passenger airliners is worth approximately $1.4 billion. The first flight tests are expected to take place in May.
The Russian state corporation Development Bank, France's export agency Coface and Italy's agency SACE signed Thursday a joint statement aimed at establishing an integrated system of financing for international sales of Superjet 100s, the Russian bank said. The document will promote the aircraft on the international market.
Sukhoi successfully tested the Superjet 100 engines in mid-February.
The company 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.
Pogosyan said in January that 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, through to 2023.
