Novak: Iran interested in buying 100 Sukhoi Superjet aircrafts

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

Iran is interested in buying of 100 Russian short-haul airliner Sukhoi SuperJet 100, while the current agreements envisage the purchase of only 12 planes, said Alexander Novak, Russian Energy Minister.

“We heard that the Iranians are considering buying these aircraft, but, nevertheless, we are working with our Iranian partners, the delivery of our aircraft Sukhoi Superjet -100,” RIA Novosti reported Novak as saying.

“Our colleagues have confirmed that already at the 12 aircraft have a specific arrangement. In the short term, we consider 30 aircraft. This is only the beginning, because in General, Iranians are interested in buying 100 planes Sukhoi Superjet. There are complexities and obtain permits and so forth, but nevertheless work in this direction is underway,” said Novak.

Due to the lifting of the Western sanctions, there are no formal restrictions on supplies of aircraft to Iran, but since a number of components for aircraft are U.S.-made, the Russian side needs to receive permission.

Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a 95-seat (the number of seats may vary depending on the passenger cabin configuration) passenger plane being produced since 2000 commissioned for flights services by the airlines from 2008.

A total of 64 Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft are currently in service, according to Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCA) data. The largest aircraft operators are Aeroflot (26 airplanes), Mexico’s Interjet (19) and Gazpromavia (10 jets of the long-range series).