Russia's Sukhoi hopes to control 15% of the world's medium-haul airplane market by 2029, the company's CEO said on Tuesday.
Mikhail Pogosyan said Sukhoi could sell up to 800 Superjet 100 aircraft globally in the next 20 years.
He cited global market studies estimating the regional-jet market demand in the next two decades at around 6,000 aircraft.
"So 15% of the market is quite a realistic and viable task," he said.
The SSJ100 is a family of medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by Sukhoi in cooperation with U.S. and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace and Honeywell.
Earlier on Tuesday Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and Thailand's Orient Thai Airlines signed a memorandum of intent on the delivery of 12 Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft and an option on 12 more airliners.
The contract, expected to be signed in late 2010, would see a significant part of the Orient Thai Airlines fleet made up of Russian-built aircraft. At present the company owns 11 McDonnell Douglas MD-80s and four Boeing-747s.
The SSJ100s are to be delivered between 2011 and 2014.
On Monday, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and Indonesia's regional carrier Kartika Airlines inked a $951 million contract for the delivery of 30 SSJ100s. The contract is a solid order for 30 airplanes to be shipped between 2012 and 2015.
Kartika CEO Kim J. Mulia said SSJ100 would help fill a "regional niche" on Indonesia's carrier market because most national airlines focus on larger-capacity aircraft.
FARNBOROUGH, July 20 (RIA Novosti)
