Ural Airlines might consider acquiring a few super-modern Russian airplanes; the company’s top executives have already held some talks with Grazhdanskiye Samolyoty Sukhogo (Sukhoi Civil Aircraft) regarding the possible purchase of five Superjet 100 planes.

‘We’ve looked into the technical characteristics of the aircraft and gave our future business partners all the data on the potential travel routes so that they could calculate the economic characteristics as well. The planes will probably be supplied in 2009-2011; given that this company will only produce its first planes in 2008, we are likely to become the first carrier to use them,’ Ural Airlines’ Production Director Vladimir Chikilev says.

According to the experts’ estimates, Superjet 100 planes meet the current and prospective demands imposed by both the domestic and foreign civil aviation markets; their design meets the requirements of air carriers in Russia, the CIS, and the western countries as well as AP 25, FAR 25, and JAR 25 regulations. Another good thing about these planes is that the noise they produce is on the level that meets the Environmental noise requirements as defined in ICAO regulations (Chapter IV) and FAR 36 (Stage IV) that came into force in 2006.

The negotiations resulted in Ural Airlines asking Sukhoi Civil Aircraft to draw up a preliminary protocol of intent regarding the acquisition of five Superjet 100 planes. The carrier needs some small seating capacity aircraft (fit for no more than 95 people), so the new planes will help the airline make its current flights around Russia and the CIS more frequent and introduce new international flights.