Russia’s S7 Group and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for the airline to buy an initial 50 of the currently under-development Sukhoi Superjet 75 (SSJ75) regional aircraft.
The companies signed the LoI at the Eurasia Airshow in Turkey, with the agreement also including an option for 25 more of the aircraft type. A final decision will be taken by the end of this summer, said Sukhoi’s parent company United Aircraft Corporation, with deliveries of the 75-seat shrink derivative of the SSJ100 to begin in 2022.
Sukhoi decided earlier this year to come up with the smaller SSJ75 version of its SSJ100. “It is pleasant to see that the plans of SCAC concerning further improvement of the aircraft are supported by Russian leading carriers such as S7. We hope that our collaboration will result in competitive, efficient aircraft relevant for the market,” said SCAC president, Alexander Rubtsov.
A supervisory council will be created as part of the new aircraft’s development programme, consisting of SCAC and S7 representatives. It is planned that the aircraft will be produced with a maximum number of Russian components possible. “Together with the size optimization it is planned to reduce the structural weight by up to 10-15%, to improve aerodynamics up to 10% and reduce specific fuel consumption up to 5% and increase the proportion of composition materials. The aim is also to cut operation and after-sales support costs,” it added.
SCAC puts potential domestic demand for the 75-seater at between 200-300 aircraft, and up to 3,000 for foreign markets (although it did not give a time scale).
Siberian-based S7 Airlines currently flies an 86-strong fleet of mostly Airbus A320 family aircraft as well as 21 Boeing 737-800s (operated by Globus) and 17 Embraer E170s. It also has orders in place for 14 A320neos, and earlier this week agreed to lease six more from SMBC Aviation Capital. It also has nine Boeing 737 MAX8s on order, again to be operated by Globus.
