Story ID: GPvlm03022015
VLM Delays Superjet Deliveries 
By: Gregory Polek
Caption: Opts to wait for EASA certification of long-range version
Word Count: 457
Belgium-based regional airline VLM has delayed delivery of its first Sukhoi Superjet 100 by more than a year to allow the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) time to certify additional aircraft features, Sukhoi said in a statement released Monday. Following consultations among VLM, lessor Ilyushin Finance Company (IFC) and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC), the parties settled on a third-quarter 2016 first delivery to allow Sukhoi to “expand [the SSJ100’s] capabilities.”

Sukhoi said it planned to gain EASA certification of the long-range variant of the SSJ100 ordered by VLM by the end of this year. “In addition, the designer of the SSJ100 will continue to work on the implementation and certification of the technical solutions for the aircraft, meeting the customer needs,” said Sukhoi. “It is expected that a set of measures to enhance the SSJ100 aircraft can be implemented in 2016.”

A letter of intent placed by VLM last October called for it to take a pair of SSJ100LRs in April under a 12-year operating lease, just ahead of the launch of planned new regional services from Antwerp. The deal included options on another two SSJ100s and so-called purchase rights on another 10.

The vote of confidence in the Russian-built jet by a Western European operator came at a particularly opportune time for Sukhoi. U.S. and European sanctions targeting the Kremlin in response to its activities in Crimea and alleged support for pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine have discouraged new Western investment in Russian enterprises. With the help of Russian-backed financing, VLM appeared to have bucked a trend. Contacted for comment on Monday, VLM’s public relations agency insisted that the decision to delay delivery bore no connection with the political or economic environment in Russia.

Word of the delivery delay came just as the only Superjet customer in the Americas—Mexico’s Interjet—confirmed it had exercised options on another 10 SSJ100s. Interjet originally ordered 15 of the 93-seat jets and took options on another five in 2011. It converted those original options at the 2012 Farnborough airshow. In November 2012, at the ALTA Leaders Forum in Panama, the airline announced it placed options on another 10. With their conversion on Monday, Interjet now has placed firm orders for 30 airplanes.

The 12 SSJ100s now that now fly with Interjet have registered better than a 99-percent dispatch reliability rate, according to Superjet International, the joint venture between Italy’s Alenia and Sukhoi Holding responsible for the aircraft’s Western sales and worldwide aftermarket support. The company, which recently delivered Interjet’s 13th SSJ100 to Mexico City, reported that the fleet had registered more than 21,000 flight hours and 20,000 cycles since the first airplane entered service on Sept. 18, 2013.