Of the total sales at the 2010 show over 20% - about US$ 10bn were inked by Russian companies and the biggest smiles were around the Sukhoi stand as its Civil Aircraft division proved the international appeal of the Sukhoi Superjet-100, the company's first venture into civil aircraft.
Alenia Aeronautica, the civil branch of Italy's Finmeccanica has a 25% stake in Sukhoi Civil Aircraft which clinched deals on as many as 161 Sukhoi Superjet 100 planes. With orders from Indonesian and Thai airlines, as well as a North American leasing company Sukhoi and its Italian partners can feel assured they are a viable world market player in competition with the established Canadian Bombardier and Brazilian Embraer outside the Russian and CIS home market.
The Superjet 100 is a family of medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by Sukhoi in cooperation with US and European aviation corporations. The 75-98 seat SSJ100 aircraft made its maiden flight from Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in Russia's Far East in May 2008. It is powered by two PowerJet SaM146 engines, and is due to enter into service by year's end with Russian flag carrier Aeroflot and Armenian carrier Armavia.
About 1,350 companies and organizations from more than 50 countries, including some 60 Russian firms, participated in the air show.
Among the largest deals in plane numbers at Farnborough was the agreement between Russia's Irkut aircraft maker and Malaysian transportation holding company CRECOM Burj Resources, for the supply of 50 new MS-21 passenger airliners to Malaysia starting 2016. This will be the largest post-Soviet sale of Russia-made new generation planes abroad.
The MS-21 plane, which is still under development, is to replace the aging Tu-154, which currently accounts for the lion's share of passenger traffic in Russia and the CIS. It is also expected to compete with the Airbus A-320 and Boeing 737.
Irkut agreed a total of 140 deliveries during the air show.
The show marked the debut on this side of the Atlantic by Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. The Dreamliner is referred to as Boeing’s most successful project ever. It has already got orders for 860 machines.
The Dreamliner’s success is also important for Russia, as part of a joint project of Boeing and State Corporation Rostechnologies.
“We have signed two agreements with Boeing. The first one is about setting up of a high-intellect working group. The second provides for establishment of an innovation R&D centre. Innovation products that will be designed and created by it will be owned on the 50/50 basis by both Boeing and us,” said Sergei Chemezov, general director the Rostecnologies Corporation.
Virtually all titanium details of the fuselage, the wings and the chassis of Dreamliner were manufactured in Russia.
The aircraft is attractively economical. Owing to the use of composite materials designers succeeded in making it significantly lighter and 15% more economical than Boeings and Airbuses in operation at present.
Sukhoi's deal with Bahamas-based new leasing group, Pearl,was particularly gratifying and Superjet Chief Executive Alessandro Franzoni said "This agreement with an international leasing company is proof of the quality of this aircraft and further enhances our position in the market".
The strategic partnership with the Italians was formed in June 2006 and in 2007 Superjet International, a Venice, Italy-based joint venture between Alenia (51%) and Sukhoi (49%) was formed to handle global marketing and product support.
The road to it's year-end entry into service, like the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787, has faced two years of delay after its originally planned November 2008 first delivery slipped due to an over-optimistic development schedule and production issues on the aircraft's engine. The engine-maker now claims it is in control of those issues, and is now winding down its four-aircraft flight test program with the approachingfirst flight of its first production aircraft.
International aviation trade press quoted Pearl in advance of the show, as saying that Superjet made a compelling technical and aftermarket case for the SSJ against its Brazilian and Canadian competitors, and called the SSJ the "best 100 seater on the horizon."
The lessor, who claimed anonymity, not wanting to preempt a formal announcement at the air show, said that the bold claim, is anchored by the aircraft's supplier list, which reads like a who's who of western aircraft manufacturing. Critics of the Superjet have said the venture is no more than a state-funded exercise that defies natural market forces and an aviation anachronism amongst composite innovators, but that criticism ignores the reality of the underlying technology driving the program.
The environmental and flight control systems are supplied by Liebherr, hydraulic system from Parker Hannafin, auxiliary power unit from Honeywell, Goodrich wheels, brakes and brake system controls, Messier-Dowty landing gear, Zodiac-Intertechnique fuel system and a PowerJet engine, a joint venture between Snecma and Russian engine maker Saturn NPO.
Additionally, the Thales avionics are grounded on a foundation similar to the Airbus A380, says Superjet, with an Aircraft Full Duplex switched data network and Integrated Modular Avionics core that exceeds its nearest competitors with full fly-by-wire architecture and precision navigation capability and autoland capability.
The systems integration stands in contrast to Cold War-era Russian-made jetliners which exclusively used homegrown systems that lacked interoperability and had a reputation for being unreliable.
The new engine in particular features Snecma technology built on the CFM56. Superjet claims a 12% fuel burn advantage over its single-class 100-seat competitors the Embraer E-190 and Bombardier CRJ900, driven by a lighter airframe with better payload range capability of around 2,400 nautical miles due to the five-abreast seating. While the equivalent Bombardier plane has a list price of US$ 55 - US$ 63 mn, the Sukhoi Superjet was selling for US$ 30 - US$ 31.7 mn each.
Aviation experts say that unlike Boeing or Airbus the SSJ100 does not center around a next generation material system, revolutionary systems architecture or supply chain, rather it's foundation is rooted in established advanced technology and a new supercritical wing profile.
Within a year Superjet International's offices on the edge of Marco Polo International Airport in Venice will be training western pilots on desktop training computers.
