"Russified" SJ-100 regional jet begins certification flight tests
United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) revealed that the first certification flight of the SuperJet-100 (SJ-100) commercial aircraft took place recently.
The single prototype, registration number 97021, took off from Zhukovsky Airfield for a 2.5-hour flight and according to the company, everything went as expected.
The SJ-100 is a “Russified” version of the SuperJet, a regional aircraft launched in the 2000s in partnership with several Western companies.
Sanctions on Russia, however, hampered the production of the first variant and the country’s government decided to develop a new jet with only local content, including turbofan engines.
However, the current test aircraft is still equipped with a SaM-146 engine, developed by PowerJet, a joint venture between Safran (France) and Russia’s NPO Saturn.
The definitive engine for the SJ-100 will be the PD-8, but the turbofan is not yet released for flights. According to UAC, the next two prototypes will already feature the PD-8.
The state-owned company stated that the test program foresees around 200 test flights by the end of 2025.
Change in agreement with Aeroflot
“Today we have orders for more than 150 aircraft, 90 of which are for the Aeroflot Group and 60 for various airlines,” said Andrey Boginsky, General Director of Yakovlev, after whom the plane is named.
Boginsky’s statement, however, goes against what Sergei Aleksandrovsky, CEO of Aeroflot, said on Russian radio that the airline intends to transform the 89 SJ-100 orders into larger and more modern MC-21 aircraft.
The largest Russian carrier was one of the SuperJet’s first customers, however, it transferred the entire fleet to its subsidiary Rossiya.
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