Air Indus orders three Russian-made aircraft
Air Indus Pvt Ltd, a fresh entrant into the Pakistani aviation industry, is interested in acquiring three Russian manufactured Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, as declared by the company. A representative of Sukhoi Aviation, Igor Syrtsov, shed light on various features of the aircraft Sukhoi Superjet `SSJ 100’ during the road-show at Karachi Airport.
He pointed out that Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a modern 100-seat jet. Igor was of the view that the recent European certification confirmed full compliance of the aircraft with stringent safety requirements.
Chairman Air Indus Private Limited Abdul Wahab remarked “I have seen the Sukhoi Superjet 100 and it is as good as any other jet made in Europe”. The airplane manufacturer Sukhoi also pledged to help the airliner in getting finances for these aircrafts, he claimed. Wahab added that the three aircrafts will be delivered by the middle of next year with the provision of financing facility and Air Indus will also have an option to further acquire five aircrafts in the next three years.
Last year, as reported by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the airline contracted four Boeing 737-300 aircraft from a Bulgarian company and Air Indus Private Ltd will start its operation in the next three months, using the narrow bodied American aircraft.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2012.
COMMENTS (28)
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Guys this make of aircraft was crashed near australia in its first maiden flight. I dont know why the heck they are going for it as it wont be a preffered airlines. They must plan out for new airbus or boeing aircraft and together with good service the would become the first priority airlines.
I believe American aircrafts are much safer and comfort providing carriers than any other...
Embraer E190/195ER planes are also a good option.. They have the same passenger carrying capacity.
There was a crash in Indonesia involving a Sukhoi Superjet-100, which is the same as the ones being obtained by Air Indus. Somebody should highlight this to the press and write letters in newspapers to raise awareness.
This same plane just crashed in Jakarta.
"A Sukhoi SuperJet 100, the first new Russian passenger plane in more than two decades, disappeared during a demonstration flight in Indonesia with about 40 people onboard." 9th May
@Shadytr33: Oh Please! Not again! les stick to this aircraft and it's future use, shall we?
@Ali Tanoli: Who told you India lost all their wars ? I'm not an Indian btw, but many pakistani historians state that we were the ones who lost the war and it was in 1960's war because of UN that we have Lahore still with us, otherwise they had captured it..
Please dont buy any thing from Russia its sucks look it india it lost every war and its Russia made tank and missile does not even flys for too long since they changeed the party its getting better.
@Hasan Awan
You obviously have no clue as to what goes into making a modern jet. Despite all the organizations and complexes you mention, Pakistan would be hard pressed to come up with a single component of a jet plane. Case in point, there was much fanfare that Pakistan helped build the K-8 trainer. I suggest you ask someone at Kamra to truthfully tell you what exactly what was designed and built there for K8. Their response, if truthful, would shock you.
Even a relatively advanced (compared to us) country like China decided it was not worth the effort and cost to build their own passenger jets. Far easier to purchase from the West because of the huge infrastructure and specialized technology needed. And I speak of about 15 years ago. They still buy jets from the West.
So what is the purpose of these huge complexes ? They do some work certainly. But if you factor in the costs involved they are not economically viable. They are run more as employment exchanges than commercial enterprises, at a huge cost to exchequer. So next time you wonder where the budget goes and why we have poor education and healthcare, this is one of the reasons.
@rasfa, No i dont agreed on this point that we dont have market look it japan when they start selling elcetronics and cars there was no body in the world who like it because of westren monopoly on things not too long ago swiss watches were so named and american cars look it now no body even asked and i allways think Arabs Gulf countries got so much money cant they start these kind of projects with china or pakistan.
Some of the comments on this article are absurd. The Sukhoi Superjet is designed and built in Russia and maintained/marketed in Russia and Italy. There is absolutely nothing unsafe about this aircraft. They have really stepped up the after-market support to airlines at Superjet International and this can only have a positive effect on the aircraft type's safety record. Russians make amazing aircraft by the way.
I tend to agree with Meekal Ahmed. Unless a project makes a business sense we should not jump into it, just because we think we can do it. Most of the European and Far Eastern countries can manufacture a commercial aircraft of a reasonable size. They are not doing so because of the risk involved in marketing it. Airbus company is owned and subsidised by five European nations. Boeing is the only surviving company of USA that produces medium to large commercail aircraft. The cost of research and development into building a new type of aircraft is so huge that the manufacturer needs to sell at least 600 aircraft to recover the cost of R&D. Let us do a bit of soul searching. Our economy is in shambles. 50% of our people live below powerty line. Millions of us die of hunger and disease every years. A large majority of us do not have access to clean drinking water. Yet a greater majority does not have access to education. Keeping that in mind, should we indulge in projects that costs billions of Dollars, only to boost our ego.
@Hasan Awan:
It is not that simple.
WHO would buy it assuming we can produce it?
Yes, we have the skills but most probably we would have to enter into a joint-venture with another country. Do you think the Chinese would be intrested? Why should they be interested in a joint-venture with us when they are building their own 100-120 seat commercial jet. It is under test at the moment.
Let us see how many export orders we get for the Sino-Pak JF-17 Thunder. None that I know of thus far.
@MAK:
Who told you the A-380 Superjumbo has been or will be grounded? I know about the wing cracks and it is going to cost Airbus millions to fix the problem but they will fix it and the A-380 will continue to fly.
SalalKhan,
Do look up Wikipedia and study this jet. It is true the Russian's have not been able to break into world markets for their commercial jets and if anything they are buying western aircraft themselves. But this is an impressive little jet and I am sure is much cheaper than an equivalent Airbus or Boeing. If it has won European certification then that is a huge victory.
GOD ...RUSSIAN JETS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help us.
@Hasan Awan: russians are know for their engineering skills, not every country can make these planes. moreover a spitfire british fighter jet was developed in 1940s for just 12500 pounds soooo
all airbus A380s are being grounded and soon all of them will be retired like concord because they found micro cracks on the wings of A380. boeing is the way to go!!
You don't make much sense and need a course in English writing.
For example, ..."the pilot was in-sane to the control tower and the first officier".
Who told you that modern navigation tools are only available on the A-380 and the Boeing 787?
All pilots over 40 are medically examined every six months.
Sukhoi Civil Aviation is recognised by ICAO, and certainly CAA Pakistan. In view of the recent history of air accidents and the resulting crisis our CAA should be stringent for operations as the pilots should be assertive regardless of the airline/aircraft. The black box recording which was made public declares the pilot was in-sane to the control instructions, and the first officer. While ignoring all the norms he dragged all the passengers to crash. I understand the mental health of the pilot, first officer should be checked regularly at a set frequency by an expert/renowned, experienced clinical psychologist who has worked not only for civil aviation, but for the airforce pilots. I understand the stress level is very high among the pilot to take an important decision how to steer the aircraft and the naive passengers in adverse climate, or poor navigation tools which are only available on the newer generation of aircraft as Airbus 380, or Boeing Dreamliner. Climate is extremely important in aviation and should be vigilantly followed, for which the CAA should look to re-tool in collaboration with world climate organisation. Other important factor is passenger liability for the aircraft should be evaluated from all new companies with newer aircraft from a vendor which is now well known to our passengers. In all cases the insurance companies should be very carefully accredited by CAA, and their under writers credibility. Being regular with Aviation Week & Space Technology a McGraw-Hill publication the pilots, and first officer should regularly visit the library to be built at the Karachi airport with digital publications as AWST digital, ICAO, IATA, all other international publications available on the digital pattern. The pilots should essentially spend time at the library where very updated weather/climate information is available. A model in the region is available, and consultation can be provided to the CAA on the establishment of digital library, and climate control center with guideline for the airline pilots, and researchers. It is very important the Airlines should participate at the major international Aviation Shows at LeBourguet, Farnborough, Dubai, Hong Kong, religiously. We have local of research and intelligence on the procurement which is based on lower prices, and credit. God bless us all.
Private airlines are good, only if they are not planned by political entities to pluder national carrier and eventually buy it. Pakistan international airline..... Pakistan indus airline.. They probably won't even need to change stationary and sign boards. For some reason I am beginning to love dictators over politicians.
take that Mr Rohrabacher!
Well the project of Sukhoi Superjet was started in early 2000s and its maiden flight was conducted in 2008 and now it it is in full production. The total program cost of Sukhoi Superjet 100 is under 1.4 Billion US dollars and per Unit Cost is pretty cheap and is just 35 Million Dollars. SO just imagine If Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Heavy Mechanical Complex Taxila along with Private firms of Pakistan will start a project like this then in just under 1.5 Billion US dollars and in less than a decade we could have our Jet Like Sukhoi Superjet 100 and we could be self Reliant in Aviation Industry in medium term aircrafts. All we need is some Will Power and if our government will make long term planning then it is possible to complete such projects in a record span of time.