Russia to certify Superjet 100 airliner in July

Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company will receive the necessary certification for its new Superjet 100 regional airliner this July, the Russian industry minister said on Wednesday.
The certification procedures have delayed the delivery of the first aircraft to Armenia's national airline Armavia and Russia's flagship air carrier Aeroflot, which was due to begin in December 2009.
In late 2009, Sukhoi was running tests in line with European, U.S. and Russian standards, which would allow the Superjet 100 to operate without restrictions anywhere in the world.
"The certificate is scheduled to be received in July 2010. A total of 3.2 billion rubles [$105.5 million] has been invested in the charter capital of the Sukhoi company as part of state support to complete certification and start serial production," Trade and Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko said.
The Superjet 100 project 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.
Sukhoi, part of Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), 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.
Currently, the company has at least 122 firm orders for Superjet 100 airliners.
MOSCOW, January 27 (RIA Novosti)

Source: rian.ru