"We've learned a lot over the past few years," Superjet CEO Alessandro Franzoni said at the Regional Airline Assn. conference in Salt Lake City. "We're considering a different strategy. We haven't abandoned our plans for a 75-seater but our focus now is on the stretch version in response to our customers. The economics of the stretch work better."
Franzoni said the market has changed since the program was launched nearly five years ago and now has a clear preference for a larger RJ. Ideally, the stretch version would have "maximum compatibility" with the SSJ 100 and could come to market within two years of the first 100 delivery at the end of 2009, he said.
Two SSJ 100s have been completed and are in certification testing (ATWOnline, April 3), while another 13 are in production and the company is prepared eventually to complete 70 aircraft per year, he said. A Superjet will be flown at next month's Paris Air Show, where he hinted that another new customer could be announced.
First delivery of the SSJ 100 is still on schedule for the end of 2009 to Armavia, which has two firm and two conditional orders. First delivery to launch customer Aeroflot, which has 30 firm orders, is expected shortly thereafter. To date, Superjet has 98 firm orders. It estimates a potential market for 6,400 regional aircraft in the 75/100-seat range over the next two decades and said it hopes to capture some 1,600 orders.
Franzoni sought to clarify an earlier report that Russia's United Aircraft Corp. would slash its Superjet 100 production rate to 74 aircraft from the 230 it planned to build by 2012 (ATWOnline, May 8). "Overall, the expected production rate has not changed but has been adjusted to new dates," he told ATWOnline, noting that the first delivery date is a full year behind the original schedule. "Our partners in Russia still don't appreciate the use of proper language to communicate. For everybody, this is truly a learning process," he said." Article.
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