Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC) managed to fly the fourth Superjet 100 prototype for the first time on February 4, notwithstanding continuing delays associated with the airplane’s engines, built by the joint venture between France’s Snecma and Russia’s NPO Saturn known as Powerjet. During an impromptu program update issued to AIN on the third day of last month’s Singapore Air Show, a Sukhoi representative said the company removed the pair of SaM146 turbofans originally used on the first prototype–which at the time had flown some 280 times–and installed them on the fourth flying example, S/N 95005. By early last month Sukhoi had taken delivery of just six SaM146s over the course of nearly two years.
Assembled in Rybinsk by Powerjet partner Saturn, the engines have proved a proverbial thorn in the side for Sukhoi and the Superjet International partnership ever since the Russian engine maker encountered a brush with financial insolvency and a shift in management control last year.
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