Aeroflot puts its second Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft in operation

August 26 2011, Moscow – Aeroflot Russian Airlines puts its second Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft (SSJ100) in operation. The airliner named after the famous Aeroflot pilot Dmitry Ezersky will perform a scheduled flight on route Moscow – St. Petersburg – Moscow on August 27.

Sukhoi Superjet 100 SN 95010 was delivered to Aeroflot under contract with the VEB-Leasing JSC on financial lease (leasing). Delivered aircraft designed to carry 87 passengers in a comfortable two-class layout (12 – business class and 75 – in economy class).

Aeroflot ordered 30 SSJ100 aircraft in total. In the future the carrier plans to purchase ten more.

“Aeroflot is the first carrier in the Russian civil aviation which started to operate the SSJ100 aircraft. These aircraft are becoming an important part of our fleet which is one of the youngest and most technically advanced fleets in Europe. Undisputed leadership on domestic routes is a key priority of our strategy to build the global network company. Providing such leadership is an important task for our short-haul SSJ100 aircraft which demonstrate a great potential. The first Superjet showed its ability on domestic routes. These aircraft will serve our international route rather soon”, stated Vitaly Saveliev General Director of JSC “Aeroflot Russian Airlines”.

“We are grateful to our launch customer, Aeroflot, for the opportunity to show good operational abilities of SSJ100 aircraft in the intensive operation and are pleased that both passengers and flight and technician staff of the airline like our aircraft. We continue to provide comprehensive support to Aeroflot at the initial stage of operation and grant quality after-sales support through our partner company SuperJet International. We are sure that the SSJ100 represents an excellent tool for the development of the regional route network”, noted Vladimir Prisyazhnyuk, President of JSC “Sukhoi Civil Aircraft”.

The first SSJ100 aircraft of Aeroflot entered in commercial operation on June 16 2011. By August 24 the SSJ100 totalized 223 flights and more than 356 hours. The aircraft serves routes from Moscow to St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Ufa. Since Sept 2 it will fly to Astrakhan. Usually, the SSJ100 preformed three or four return flights per day, achieving daily utilization from 9 to 14,5 flight hours. Aeroflot’s operations confirm that the aircraft is able to serve efficiently regional routes with the high frequency of departure.

Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) is a 100 seat regional jet designed, developed and built by Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC), in partnership with Alenia Aeronautica. On May 19th 2008 SSJ100 successfully accomplished its first flight. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 cruises at a Maximum Operating Speed of Mach 0.81 and 40.000 feet. It takes off from a 1.731 meters runway in the basic range and 2.052 meters in the long range. The operating range for the basic version is 3.048 km and 4.578 km for the long range version. In February 2011, the SSJ100 obtained the Type Certificate by the Russian Certification Authority IAC AR. The EASA certification is expected to follow in 2011. On April 19th 2011 first production SSJ100 was delivered to Armavia airlines (Armenia).

Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company

The Company’s shareholders are the Sukhoi Holding owing 75% – 1 share and the Italian Alenia Aeronautica, a Finmeccanica Company, holding 25% + 1 share since April 7, 2009. Sukhoi Civil Aircraft was founded in 2000 to develop new regional aircraft projects. Headquartered in Moscow, the Company enjoys several production branches seated in the cities of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Novosibirsk and Voronezh. Today the company employs over 2,000 people.

Sukhoi Superjet 100 – a new family of regional jets – is the Company’s major project.

Aeroflot Russian Airlines

Aeroflot, the leader of Russia’s air fleet, is a member of SkyTeam, the global airline alliance. Aeroflot’s overall flight network comprises 898 locations in 169 countries. In 2010, 11.3 mln passengers used Aeroflot’s services and 14.07 mln used the services offered by the Aeroflot group.

Aeroflot was the winner in the contest between European members of SkyTeam in serving economy-class passengers in short- and medium-range flights and business-class passengers in long-range flights. “Onboard Survey” the marketing survey conducted by SkyTeam from April to September 2009, confirmed Aeroflot’s leading positions.

Aeroflot belongs to 25 leading airlines of the world according to Air Transport World journal, based on the results of its financial and economic activities in 2009 (“operating profit” and “profit margin” categories).

Aeroflot was the first Russian carrier to be included in the IOSA operator registry and it continues to confirm the certificate in a regular way. The airline has successfully passed the Safety audit for ground operations (ISAGO). Aeroflot is a holder of the unified certificate of compliance with the requirements of ISO 9001:2008.

Aeroflot operates one of the youngest air fleets in Europe that consists of 105 aircraft. Aeroflot’s hub is Sheremetyevo international airport in Moscow. For more details please visit www.aeroflot.ru.

VEB-Leasing JSC

The main shareholder – the State Corporation «The Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)». The priority areas of specialization include: leasing of rolling stock, leasing of aircraft and units, leasing of marine and river vessels, leased cars and special equipment as well as the leasing of high technology equipment.