Aircraft
Sukhoi aims to fly SSJ by month’s end
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company has found completion of the first Superjet 100 a major challenge, after missing a year-end target for first flight that now a

Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company has found completion of the first Superjet 100 a major challenge, after missing a year-end target for first flight that now appears likely to take place no sooner than late this month. Sources close to the project say the Superjet faces “integration issues” as well as engine delays.

Leading the Russian aerospace industry’s first venture into the management of such an international civil aircraft program, Sukhoi last month received the formal blessing of Russian president Vladimir Putin to award Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica a 25-percent-plus-one-share stake in the Superjet. The two companies have already established Superjet International, a Venice-based joint partnership to market, sell and deliver aircraft in Western markets, provide worldwide after-sales support and design business aviation and cargo variants.