Sukhoi delays delivery of Superjet 100 by a year
11 Jul 2008
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co has announced a delay in the delivery of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 to launch customer Aeroflot. It said that first deliveries will now only be made in the second half of 2009, a year behind schedule.
While Sukhoi confirmed the delay, Aeroflot officials said that they too had received communication from Sukhoi that
deliveries would be made at the earliest only by the third quarter of 2009. No reasons have been offered for the delay.
The Russian flag carrier had expected to take delivery of as many as 30 of these newly designed and manufactured aircraft in the second half of this year.
The SSJ100 made its first test flight last month, but Sukhoi does not expect the certification process to be complete until mid-2009. Though delays in the delivery schedule had been expected, the size of the delay has come as a surprise.