Aeroflot considers buying 30 Russian-made passenger planes

[News_Editor]

Aeroflot considers buying 30 Russian-made passenger planes

2011-07-18 21:44:16 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW (BNO NEWS) -- Russia's largest airline Aeroflot is considering to buy as many as 30 new aircraft to be made by regional aircraft manufacturers, the company's CEO said during a meeting on Monday.

Aeroflot is the flag carrier and largest airline in Russia, flying millions of people a year to dozens of destinations around the world. It currently has a fleet of 107 aircraft, most of which are Airbus A320-family aircraft.

But Aeroflot has an interest in buying more Russian-made aircraft, rather than aircraft made in the United States. The airline received its first Russian-made Sukhoi SuperJet-100 earlier this year and has another 29 SSJ-100 regional jets on order.

Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Savelyev said on Monday that Aeroflot is ready to sign a contract for 10 more SSJ-100 aircraft, bringing the total number of SSJ-100 planes to 40. The airline previously said it intends to acquire a total of 126 modern Russian-built aircraft of various types through 2020.

In addition, Aeroflot is considering to sign a contract with Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov for 20 more An-148 planes. These would be delivered to Aeroflot subsidiary GTK Rossiya, which Savelyev said has proved to be 'quite effective.'

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