Russia pins comeback hopes on Superjet

FRANCE: Decades after being left in the contrails of its Western competitors, Russia is seeking to stage a comeback in the civil aircraft market with a new passenger plane.

Sukhoi, a company far better known for its military fighters, introduced its first regional jet, the Superjet 100, at the Paris Air Show this week, making the most of the fact that none of the world���s leading commercial plane manufacturers had any new products flying before the crowds.

If Sukhoi was disappointed that the Superjet���s coming-out party had been spoiled by the enduring global economic crisis, the company���s chief executive, Mikhail A. Pogosyan, was not showing it. As a sleek prototype of the 100-seat plane soared above the stands at Le Bourget airport, Pogosyan insisted that the clouds hanging over the aviation industry had a silver lining.

"I like crisis," a smiling Pogosyan told journalists this week. "I like working in a crisis time because those who are strong get stronger and those who are weak get weaker. "By the end of the crisis, the Superjet 100 will be in operation and it will be a proven product," he said.

Sukhoi says it expects to deliver its first four Superjets to two customers, Aeroflot and an Armenian airline, Armavia, this year. Those planes are expected to enter commercial service in the first quarter of 2010.

Sukhoi has ambitions far larger than its slim product line would suggest. The Superjet is its only commercial product. The company intends to sell about 1,000 of the planes, which list for about $30 million, in 15 to 20 years. Moreover, it expects to sell 70% of them outside Russia. "This is a worldwide aircraft," Pogosyan said. "With the progress of the programme, we can start to go west. Superjet is a product of global cooperation, so we expect that it has good potential."

Within 15 years, he said, Sukhoi hoped to claim 20% of the world market for jets in the 100-seat category. For the moment, orders for Superjets look decidedly less international. Of the 122 firm orders for the plane, 85 are from Russian customers, including one for 24 planes announced on Tuesday by the jet leasing company AviaLeasing.

With the Superjet, Sukhoi is trying to break into a market that is already dominated by Embraer of Brazil and Bombardier of Canada. Mitsubishi of Japan is also developing a 100-seater, as is the Chinese state-owned plane maker, AVIC. Sukhoi will also be fighting for business in a shrinking market.

To win customers abroad, analysts said, Sukhoi must also overcome an image problem that plagues many Russian companies: that they often lack fast and reliable after-sale support for their products.