REGIONAL RIVALRY: SUKHOI SUPERJET AND ANTONOV AN-148

摘要

In a move to make its Russian Regional Jet (RRJ) more interesting to potential Western customers, Sukhoi has re-branded it the Superjet 100. Sukhoi is emulating Western marketing techniques with a public relations campaign which claims that 'everything is Super in Superjet' (echoing 'everything is eXtra in Airbus A350 XWB'). Although work on the Superjet 100 is progressing far more slowly than its participants expected, it received a boost on June 20, when Alenia Aeronautica entered the programme. In exchange for $200-$250(£105-£131) million invested in the project, Alenia will receive 25% plus one share of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC). As Russian regulations allow no more than 25% minus one share of an aircraft company to be sold to foreign partners, a special intergovernmental agreement will be necessary to obtain Alenia's two additional shares. That said, there is little doubt that authority for their release will be granted as the agreement for the Italian company to join the SCAC has been 'blessed by supreme authorities': the signing ceremony took place in the Kremlin in the presence of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi.