The Russian Superjet has still not entered the Western market, although it was positioned by designer Mikhail Pogosyan as a competitor to European and American airliners. Honored Pilot of the USSR, member of the Public Council of Rostransnadzor Oleg Smirnov, in an interview with «Первым техническим», told how the decision of the then Chairman of the Italian Government Silvio Berlusconi influenced the fate of the project.
According to him, the reason was the lack of a full-fledged system of after-sales service and fast delivery of spare parts.
When the certification ended, Berlusconi was the first to withdraw from this program. Can you imagine? And no country still has this aircraft.
Smirnov explained that for the successful sale of any new aircraft, a guarantee of spare parts supply and round-the-clock support is critically important. The Russian airliner did not provide this — in case of electronics or component failure, parts had to be searched for all over the world, and delivery and repair are too expensive.
I have extensive contacts with aviators around the world. I ask: why are you refusing the Superjet? The answer is: listen, guys, if Berlusconi — the co-author of the aircraft, refused to participate in this project, he is more informed.
As a result, Superjet continues to be operated mainly within Russia, and ambitions to enter the West — remained unrealized.
As a reminder, at the end of 2010, the Italian Alitalia officially отказалась от планов по закупке 20 российских самолетов Sukhoi Superjet 100 и made a choice in favor of the Brazilian Embraer.
«Первый технический» рассказывал, that the domestic SSJ-New is not a modernization, but a rewritten aircraft from scratch. Import substitution reaches 97%, which means replacing everything: from software to hydraulic systems, from the PD-8 engine to navigation devices.
