http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080608/109538790.html
Russia's Superjet could become global brand - Dep. PM Ivanov
ST. PETERSBURG, June 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's new Sukhoi Superjet family of
medium-haul airliners could become a global brand, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei
Ivanov said on Sunday.
Aircraft maker Sukhoi presented the Superjet 100 at the 12th International
Economic Forum in St. Petersburg on Friday.
Speaking at the forum, now in its third day, Ivanov said: "The problem with our
economy is that we have almost no brands on the level of, for example,
Boeing... Our economy therefore is not sufficiently well-known in the world."
"Superjet could become a new brand, along with floating nuclear power stations;
there is also strong potential in communications and information technology."
Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogosyan said on Friday that the company hopes to control
15% of the world's regional passenger plane market by 2024.
The Superjet 100 project is a family of medium-range passenger aircraft
developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau in cooperation with major American and
European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier
Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace, and Honeywell.
Prior to certification testing, the plane has to undergo a series of
preliminary flight tests at the aircraft manufacturing plant in
Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia's Far East. The airliner made its first test
flight in May.
Sukhoi 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.
So far the company had secured 73 solid orders for the aircraft.
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