Aeroflot's first Superjet during her delivery flight.
Russian airline Aeroflot has taken delivery of their first Sukhoi Superjet 100. They become the second airline to operate the Superjet 100 after Armavia, which has been flying the aircraft since April 19th.
The airline plans to enter the aircraft into service between Moscow and St. Petersburg starting today and Aeroflot is scheduled to receive 10 Superjets in 2011, 12 in 2012 and eight in 2013.
The Superjet 100 is a 75-95 seat regional airliner made by the Russian manufacturer Sukhoi. It is intended to replace older TU-134s and Yakovlev Yak-42s. A collection of Russian companies have come together to develope and produce the new aircraft. It is being reported that Sukhoi is looking at the possibility of creating a larger version that could hold 100-130 passengers and at creating a corporate version of the Superjet.
So far, all the news about the aircraft has not been positive. According to Epress.am, a Moscow-based blogger has reported that there are some serious quality issues with the interior of Armavia’s Superjet. He has taken a few flights and was shocked to see the condition of the interior and had difficult time getting photos to show proof.
“I soon realized why the crew was so concerned about taking photographs on board. The brand new airplane was falling apart. Despite the fact that it’s been less than a month that the airplane has been carrying out regular flights, the interior was in a deplorable state. The hatches either couldn’t fit or didn’t hold the oxygen masks [it was supposed to hold].
Hopefully these are just a few signs of a new aircraft that might not have had all the bugs worked out before delivery. A few interior panels not fitting is a much different issue than the condition of the mechanics or the fuselage which so far have had no reported issues.
The Superjet is a new regional jet that will compete in the 75-100 seat market. The aircraft saw its first flight on May 19, 2008, but still has not made their first delivery. Last I heard and still according to their website, they were expecting to deliver the first aircraft during the fourth quarter of 2010. However Ostrower is reporting that the airliner is expected to earn Russian certification by the end of this month and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification in 2012. The Superjet has almost 200 orders and the first will be delivered to Aeroflot Armavia (updated: first two go to Armavia, then Aeroflot will get their first)
Recently Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin put pressure on Aeroflot and their subsidiaries to purchase more Russian-built aircraft to help with their fleet modernization versus Airbus and Boeing. Currently Aeroflot has 40 Superjets on order with an option for 15 additional.
I love the Ilyushin IL-96 (and IL-86). With the older Aeroflot livery, it looks all Russian. This video shows off the IL-96T, the freighter version, at the Moscow Airshow in 2005. She takes off, does a fly-by and then lands. Love the sound of her four Aviadvigatel PS90 Pratt & Whitney PW2337 turbofans.
Although many view the IL-96 as a less safe aircraft, no fatal accidents has ever occurred with the aircraft type (no passengers have died in the IL-86 either). I have never been able to fly on one, but it is on my to-do list. Have any of you been able to experience flying on an IL-96 or IL-86?
Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin isn’t happy that Russia’s national carrier, Aeroflot, is not purchasing domestically-built aircraft. Putin feels it is, “unacceptable,” for Russia’s flag carrier to not be supporting Russian airplane manufactures.
Aeroflot is currently in the process of taking over management of six other Russian airlines that aircraft are very outdated. Putin is strongly urging Savelvev to look at Russian aircraft options. Currently Aeroflot’s fleet only have six Russian-built aircraft, all Ilyushin IL-96′s. The rest of their fleet consists of 11 Boeing 767′s, 10 Airbus A330′s and 64 Airbus A320′s.
I can see both sides to this argument. Putin is mostly concerned about national pride and providing Russian jobs and Savelyev wants to build a profitable airline. It will be interesting to see how Aeroflot grows with additional mergers and pressure to buy domestic products.
Sometimes when you see the results of a study you just want to say, “duh!” Recently Aeroflot, Russia’s flag carrier, banned alcohol on some of its longer flights to see if it would decrease in flight disturbances. Not to surprisingly, they did see a decrease.
The ban was only for passengers in economy seats (maybe people with more money can hold their booze better?). Since the change, Aeroflot has seen a “significant fall” in the number of alcohol-related issues (this is the “duh” part).
Due to the success, the airline is continuing to ban alcohol on flights from Moscow to Havana, Bangkok, Shanghai and the Russian cities of Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at least through the summer.
I am sort of torn with the banning of alcohol on flights. When you read about passengers going crazy on flights, 95% of the time alcohol (and/or drugs) are involved. However, flying is very stressful to a lot of people and alcohol can give passengers a certain level of comfort. Alcohol is also a big money maker for airlines. Those $5-8 you are spending on mixed drinks costs the airlines much less and losing that extra revenue would cause airlines to increase prices.
Many flight attendants I have talked to would love to see alcohol banned on flights. You can imagine, sometimes it makes grumpy passengers even more grumpy. Plus having the “I think you might have had enough, ” conversation can’t be easy.
