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WHAT IT'S LIKE TO FLY IN A SUPERJET
By Roland Oliphant
The Moscow Times
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/what-its-like-to-fly-in-a-superjet/442322.html
Aug 19 2011
ABOARD THE SUPERJET - "Ladies and gentlemen please fasten your seat
belts, make sure that your seats are in the full upright position
and pay attention as our cabin crew demonstrate the safety features
on this Superjet SSJ-100," said the captain's voice.
Two dozen journalist-passengers, bleary eyed after rising early to make
the two-hour journey to the airfield and another two hours spent in
departure lounges, standing on hot tarmac and being ferried by buses,
obediently took their seats and buckled up.
The engines fired up, the cabin was filled with a whining like a
distressed refrigerator, and the 100-seater plane hurtled down the
runway and lunged into the air, very quickly for a passenger accustomed
to larger, more lumbering jet aircraft.
It was a mundane procedure and could have been an ordinary scene on
any morning flight between European capitals. And that was the point.
The Superjet 100 is the first new airliner Russia has built since the
fall of the Soviet Union, and the flight from the Zhukovsky airfield
over the Moscow region was an attempt to prove that the phoenix rising
from the ashes of the post-Soviet aviation industry is as quiet,
calm and comfortable as any regional aircraft that competitors like
Canada's Bombadier and Brazil's Embraer can produce.
The SSJ is meant to resurrect the domestic aviation industry.
Manufacturer Sukhoi and Superjet International, the Russian-Italian
joint venture that sells the planes internationally, has set a target
of selling 1,000 planes over the next decade.
It's a rare enough event to be a passenger on a Superjet. There are
only two in service in the world: one with Armenia's Armavia and one
with Aeroflot. The machine in use at the MAKS air show was delivered
to the Yerevan-based carrier in April - the very first of the craft
to enter service.
Sukhoi Civil Aviation president Vladimir Prisyazhnyuk told journalists
at the show Thursday that the company plans to deliver four more
Superjet 100s to Aeroflot by the end of this year.
Production at the Komsomulsk-on-Amur factory is currently running
at one plane per month, he said, but should rise to three per month
by 2012.
United Engine Corporation plans to invest 3 billion rubles ($103
million) expanding capacity to produce the SaM-146 engine for the jet,
Oboronprom chief Andrei Reus told reporters Wednesday.
Prisyazhnyuk said the company would increase its order portfolio by
57 airliners over the course of this week's air show, not including
a contract with UTair Airlines for 24 aircraft that was signed earlier.
The president of Superjet International said he hoped that European
certification later this year would open up "more cautious markets"
in Europe and the United States.
Following a chance to wolf down coffee and sandwiches provided by
United Aircraft Corporation in a conference hall-turned-temporary
departure lounge, the trek across the hot tarmac to the bus began.
After a ride around the airfield's Soviet-era hangers, the
passengers who boarded the beige-liveried aircraft Wednesday morning
subconsciously slipped into the stereotypical rhythm of regional
flights in the former Soviet Union - psychologically resigned to the
prospect of a shaky flight punctuated by strange smells and a meal
of smoked fish, pickles and indeterminate processed-meat products.
But the neat cabin with its full economy-class layout, five seats
to a row - three to starboard and two to port - seemed more like an
aircraft that European budget airlines frequently use to whisk British
stag parties and the occasional price-conscious businessman to Prague.
The effect was only spoiled by uneven gaps between wall and ceiling
panels that looked as if someone had pried open the oxygen mask
compartment to conceal a stash of heroin, but had failed to reassemble
it afterward.
The lack of individual overhead ventilation vents was only slightly
irritating. The toilet at the rear of the cabin contains the cramped
but clean fixtures familiar to any air traveler. The armrests worked,
the tray table operated smoothly, and the seats reclined comfortably.
"It's a delight to fly. A new generation plane no different than its
Airbus analogy," the Armenian pilot told reporters after the flight.
From: A. Papazian
By Roland Oliphant
The Moscow Times
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/what-its-like-to-fly-in-a-superjet/442322.html
Aug 19 2011
ABOARD THE SUPERJET - "Ladies and gentlemen please fasten your seat
belts, make sure that your seats are in the full upright position
and pay attention as our cabin crew demonstrate the safety features
on this Superjet SSJ-100," said the captain's voice.
Two dozen journalist-passengers, bleary eyed after rising early to make
the two-hour journey to the airfield and another two hours spent in
departure lounges, standing on hot tarmac and being ferried by buses,
obediently took their seats and buckled up.
The engines fired up, the cabin was filled with a whining like a
distressed refrigerator, and the 100-seater plane hurtled down the
runway and lunged into the air, very quickly for a passenger accustomed
to larger, more lumbering jet aircraft.
It was a mundane procedure and could have been an ordinary scene on
any morning flight between European capitals. And that was the point.
The Superjet 100 is the first new airliner Russia has built since the
fall of the Soviet Union, and the flight from the Zhukovsky airfield
over the Moscow region was an attempt to prove that the phoenix rising
from the ashes of the post-Soviet aviation industry is as quiet,
calm and comfortable as any regional aircraft that competitors like
Canada's Bombadier and Brazil's Embraer can produce.
The SSJ is meant to resurrect the domestic aviation industry.
Manufacturer Sukhoi and Superjet International, the Russian-Italian
joint venture that sells the planes internationally, has set a target
of selling 1,000 planes over the next decade.
It's a rare enough event to be a passenger on a Superjet. There are
only two in service in the world: one with Armenia's Armavia and one
with Aeroflot. The machine in use at the MAKS air show was delivered
to the Yerevan-based carrier in April - the very first of the craft
to enter service.
Sukhoi Civil Aviation president Vladimir Prisyazhnyuk told journalists
at the show Thursday that the company plans to deliver four more
Superjet 100s to Aeroflot by the end of this year.
Production at the Komsomulsk-on-Amur factory is currently running
at one plane per month, he said, but should rise to three per month
by 2012.
United Engine Corporation plans to invest 3 billion rubles ($103
million) expanding capacity to produce the SaM-146 engine for the jet,
Oboronprom chief Andrei Reus told reporters Wednesday.
Prisyazhnyuk said the company would increase its order portfolio by
57 airliners over the course of this week's air show, not including
a contract with UTair Airlines for 24 aircraft that was signed earlier.
The president of Superjet International said he hoped that European
certification later this year would open up "more cautious markets"
in Europe and the United States.
Following a chance to wolf down coffee and sandwiches provided by
United Aircraft Corporation in a conference hall-turned-temporary
departure lounge, the trek across the hot tarmac to the bus began.
After a ride around the airfield's Soviet-era hangers, the
passengers who boarded the beige-liveried aircraft Wednesday morning
subconsciously slipped into the stereotypical rhythm of regional
flights in the former Soviet Union - psychologically resigned to the
prospect of a shaky flight punctuated by strange smells and a meal
of smoked fish, pickles and indeterminate processed-meat products.
But the neat cabin with its full economy-class layout, five seats
to a row - three to starboard and two to port - seemed more like an
aircraft that European budget airlines frequently use to whisk British
stag parties and the occasional price-conscious businessman to Prague.
The effect was only spoiled by uneven gaps between wall and ceiling
panels that looked as if someone had pried open the oxygen mask
compartment to conceal a stash of heroin, but had failed to reassemble
it afterward.
The lack of individual overhead ventilation vents was only slightly
irritating. The toilet at the rear of the cabin contains the cramped
but clean fixtures familiar to any air traveler. The armrests worked,
the tray table operated smoothly, and the seats reclined comfortably.
"It's a delight to fly. A new generation plane no different than its
Airbus analogy," the Armenian pilot told reporters after the flight.
From: A. Papazian