Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Slovenia’s Adria Airways for 15 SSJ100 aircraft, as well as an agreement for setting up a new MRO facility.
Russia’s Minister of industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, confirmed the deal and said deliveries would begin early next year. The single-aisle jets will be delivered under long-term lease arrangements.
In addition, he added, both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish an SSJ100 Maintenance and Repair Organisation (MRO) operation at Ljubljana Airport in Slovenia.
“It is our pleasure to partner with JSC Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company. They will totally support Adria Airways’ development strategy. During the past two years we were analysing the SSJ100 type and came to the conclusion that all the technical and operational characteristics of this aircraft would best suit our strategic goals,” said Adria’s CEO, Holger Kowarsch. He added that SSJ100 operation would allow more of its current Bombardier CRJ and Airbus A319 aircraft to be available for wet-lease operations.
Sukhoi’s president, Alexander Rubtsov, added: “We realise that the SSJ100 after-sales support at the entry to the European market should be organised profoundly and professionally. Together with Adria Airways we will create a joint maintenance and repair organization for SSJ100 at the Ljubljana Airport. That service platform will secure the operational reliability of SSJ100 aircraft in Europe.”
Adria has a current fleet of 14 aircraft, consisting of a mix of CRJ 900s and 700s, as well as a trio of Saab 200s and an ATR72-600.
The news of the SSJ100 decision follows the injection of fresh capital by 4K Invest, a shareholder of Adria Airways, into the company. 4K last week recapitalised Adria with €4 million, in addition to a previously announced recapitalisation of at least €10 million scheduled for the first quarter of 2019, to be used for further business development activity for the airline, especially for ACMI services in Central and South East Europe.
Kowarsch said at the time the fresh cash injection was announced: “We work hard to position Adria Airways for stable business and further growth. We already achieved substantial development and we will continue to expand the potentials of this company and build it even stronger airline in the future.”
