Bahrain Air is in talks with Russia on the purchase of up to five Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ) regional passenger aircraft, the company official said on Thursday.
“We are considering the purchase of planes with capacity of 100-130 passengers,” the airline’s Chief Executive Officer Richard Nuttall said, adding that the company will choose between the SSJ and Canadian Bombardier.
The airline will make the final decision in the Q1 of 2012 and is expecting delivery in 2014-2015, Nutall said.
Russian United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) officials have confirmed preliminary talks with Bahrain’s second flag carrier on the SSJ purchase.
Superjet 100 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.
The aircraft is capable of carrying up to 100 passengers for up to 4,500 kilometers.
Sukhoi has received over 200 firm orders for Superjet 100 airliners so far. There are currently five Superjet 100s in service with Armavia and Aeroflot.
