By Yudith Ho and Andrea Rothman - May 10, 2012 6:01 AM GMT+0700
The search continued for a Russian Sukhoi SuperJet 100 that vanished from radar screens during a brief promotional flight in Indonesia yesterday with 50 people on board, as poor weather complicated the rescue effort.
Indonesia’s National Search & Rescue Agency deployed more than 100 people to track down the aircraft that disappeared in the afternoon in West Java. Helicopters were forced to abort an earlier mission and will resume their search today. Sukhoi representatives said they were heading for Jakarta to support the effort, along with Russia’s Ministry of Industry & Trade.
Relatives of passengers on the ill-fated Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 grieve at the arrival area of Halim airport in Jakarta on May 9, 2012. Photographer: Romeo Gacad/AFP/GettyImages
The twin-engine aircraft, which can carry about 100 people, lost contact after descending to 6,000 feet (1,828 meters) on its second flight of the day during a promotional tour of Asian countries. The SuperJet, developed with support and equipment of Western partners, is the spearhead in Russia’s attempt to revive the nation’s aerospace industry and modernise the fleet following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
“I cannot say that it has crashed,” Daryatmo, head of the Search and Rescue Agency, said at a press briefing at Halim Perdana Kusumah airport. “What we can say at the moment is that it has lost contact.” .
The terrain in the West Java province reaches 10,000 feet around the peak of the Ciremai volcano. The Sukhoi had taken off from the Halim Perdana airport as part of a tour of Asia that had included previous stints to Myanmar, Pakistan and Kazakhstan. Further appearances were planned in Laos and Vietnam, Olga Kayukova, a spokeswoman for Sukhoi owner United Aircraft Corp., said by telephone.
Proper Condition
The aircraft has an operating range of as much as 4,578 kilometers (2,845 miles) and is a challenger to similar-sized jets from Bombardier Inc. (BBD/B) and Brazil’s Embraer SA. (EMBR3) Sukhoi said the jet used in Jakarta had gone through the “full pre-flight check” and displayed the “proper technical condition.”
The second demonstration flight for the day followed a first tour that had gone “without any technical problems,” Sukhoi said in a statement on its website. Commanding the jet were a “very experienced crew” consisting of Chief Test Pilot Alexander Yablontsev and co-pilot Alexander Kochetkov, it said.
The Sukhoi SuperJet carried 42 passengers and eight crew, Sunaryo, an official from PT Trimarga Rekatama, said at a press conference yesterday in Jakarta. Trimarga Rekatama is Sukhoi’s agent in Indonesia.
Prone to Accidents
The SuperJet was developed in a venture with Finmeccanica SpA (FNC)’s Alenia Aeronautica SpA, which is helping market the plane. Russia’s aviation industry has sought to overcome the image of outdated aircraft prone to accidents. Last year, the country suffered 99 deaths after five jetliner accidents through late September, according to the most recent figures available from researcher Ascend Worldwide Ltd.
Following an accident last year when a plane carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team failed to gain altitude, then- President Dimitry Medvedev said Russia might turn to foreign aircraft producers to ensure safety of air travel.
The age of Russia’s domestically manufactured single-aisle aircraft fleet is between 25 and 30 years, while the U.S. fleet averages around 13 years, according to figures published late last year by Ascend, a London-based aviation consultant company.
“It’s a setback, but we don’t know anything about the causes yet,” said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of the Teal Group, an aviation forecaster in Fairfax, Virginia. “Russia’s jetliner industry completely lost its competitiveness after the Cold War and shrank to almost nothing.”
Muted Interest
Customers for the SuperJet included Armenia’s Armavia and Russia’s flagship airline OAO Aeroflot, and the eight aircraft in service for two carriers have accumulated more than 3,500 flights. PT Sky Aviation, an Indonesian carrier, has ordered 12, and the Asian tour was an attempt to raise the aircraft’s profile with prospective customers.
While European carriers including Air France-KLM Group and Deutsche Lufthansa (LHA) AG initially said they were studying the plane, neither has so far placed orders. The SuperJet’s main competitors are the CRJ900 built by Bombardier and the E175 and E190 models by Embraer.
Seating five abreast, the plane is powered with engines built by PowerJet, a joint venture between French engine maker Snecma, a unit of Safran SA (SAF), and NPO Saturn. Safran’s Messier- Dowty unit also provides the integrated landing gear system, with B/E Aerospace providing the doors. Italy’s Avio provides the gearbox for the propulsion systems and Safran’s Aircelle unit provides the engine nacelles.
Development and capital costs were about $1 billion, according to Fairfax’s Teal, with another $1 billion for the engines and customer support. The list price is $28 million. The aircraft had 170 orders in total, according to Teal. Sukhoi itself has not disclosed order numbers.
To contact the reporters on this story: Yudith Ho in Singapore at yho35@bloomberg.net; Andrea Rothman in Paris at aerothman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net; Neil Denslow at ndenslow@bloomberg.net
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