Quid Pro Quo: Norwegian To Lease Russian Sukhoi Superjets?!

It would be great to have Norwegian flying to far east, but 40 is too much imp, maybe 25 for some shorter routes.

Access to the Sibir corridor is limited to one airline per country, and as SAS already is operativt routes Norwegian can not gain access without a russian expemtion or legislative change. This has been a debate in the media for years in Norway, without Norwegian getting anywhere really. I guess this is Norwegian being creative and exploring a different solution to the issue.

It will be cool to see some alternative plane models in the skies, but I'm curious about the safety angle here. I guess Norwegian must have extensively researched this issue. I would still be apprehensive to fly on one of these planes.

If they were smart, they would go with the Irkut MC-21 instead of the SSJ. They could get the same airspace usage rights and get the most advanced narrowbody plane.

Sure, let’s all stay safe with 737MAX pictured above.

These planes are extremely unreliable both operationally and safety wise.

As a FF of Aeroflot I flew Sukhoi multiple times, and it looks safe and I felt very comfortable.

Sad to see not too much airlines to operate such an aircraft.

@Ole If so UK must be two countries then

What have been issue with Brussels Airlines where these was n revenue flights for month? i do not think reliability is the only reason, on interjet politics kill SSJ100 on these area...

Will the costs of adding a new fleet type to a low-cost carrier, plus the issues with supply chain access (especially in deep South America) actually be worth the money saved on the overflight fees? Interjet didn't ground their fleet because of reliability issues per se, but because there is no supply chain to get parts from when planes go into maintenance, even for routine issues. I can't imagine that will be any easier in South America. And that also seems to be a problem in Mother Russia as well. The biggest issue with Russian and Chinese built airframes today isn't necessarily reliability, but just the lack of a solid supply chain.

Interjet said that they went with the Sukhoi instead of Airbus because they could get 10 Sukhoi for the price of one Airbus.

So they bought 30 planes, and only use 5... which translates to they bought 3 planes and got 2 free. I guess? Assuming theyre telling the truth on the math.

Of course this math only works if the plane doesn't crash and ruin your reputation for a decade.

Good luck to them, they must be getting them for free to even consider doing this. In a few months half the fleet will be sitting on the ground being parted out to keep the other half flying. Can’t see this ending well.

@EL

For every rule there is an exemption.

Virgin started to fly their Tokyo route in 1989. I would imagine that the USSR was a bit more in need of foreign exchange back then, compared to Russia today.

@Max

MC21 is much bigger so more of an overlap with Norwegian's 737 fleet, plus deliveries have not started yet. Don't even think it has European certification yet.

At least the Superjet is certified and in production. Big hurdle passed just there, now if it's reliable plane in airline operations is different subject.

And note that I said reliable rather than a safe plane in airline operations. The 7373Max was by all accounts a reliable plane, the problem was the safety aspect.

For a plane to be truly be successful it needs to be reliable and safe. It's the after market support that the Russians are struggling to provide.

Quid pro quo? Norwegian must be impeached, which in the airline's case would be revocation of flying rights to the US.

It wasn't a reliability issue with the Interjet and other airlines had. It was a problem with parts availability. The Powerjet engines are a joint venture between Safran of France and Russian NPO Saturn. Safran (probably for political reasons) stopped delivering engine parts. I know the Russians have been working on an all Russian replacement to avoid this issue in the future.

Engine problems.
https://www.vedomosti.ru/business/articles/2018/11/21/787112-ssj100-malo-letaet
And not enough spare engines to go around while the problem engines are being fixed, sounds like a worse version of RR and the B787 due to the much smaller fleet of Superjets.

I have no experience in aviation do you think they can they hire me at $50,000 a month?

I find it concerning that the Superjet 100 lacks over-wing emergency exits.

During the Russia crash, those seated in the middle and rear of the aircraft were forced to try to escape through the two forward exits, because the rear exits were engulfed in flames.

If this jet was fitted with over-wing exits, the death toll would not have been as high.

And the reason Sukhoi did not equip this airliner with over-wing exits? Cost. Windows are much cheaper to install than doors...

@Jojo
It depends, is your father's name Joe?
If yes, the follow up question:
is he Vice President of the US? Or is your mother at least Secretary of State?

Plus, Hunter's firm was actually paid @$165,000 a month. Don't settle for a mere $50K. 😉

@ Robert Hanson -- Preach!! You took the words right out of my mouth. Not everyone can be a self made entrepreneur like DJTJ!

Well, if Russia has to resort to this kind of selling practices, it really speaks volumes about the quality of the product, doesn't it?

I would never buy a ticket for a fight operated by SSJ

Well well. they also bought Boeing MAX. Why not continue to buy shit planes made by amateurs.

SSJ crash in Moscow in 2016 was due to a pilot error (hard landing with leap-frog bouncing) after a lightening strike. This could have happened to any aircraft. The evacuation was delayed by many passengers in the front of the cabin trying to retrieve their carry ons... I agree with SuperVC10 - additional emergency exits would have saved more lives. Perhaps commercial airlines should install automatic overhead bin locks that snap shut during emergency evacuation!

"Aeroflot Flight 1492 was a scheduled passenger flight from Moscow–Sheremetyevo to Murmansk, Russia. On 5 May 2019, the Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft operating the flight was climbing out when it was struck by lightning. The aircraft suffered an electrical failure and returned to Sheremetyevo for an emergency landing. It bounced on landing and touched down hard, causing the landing gear to collapse, fuel to spill out of the wings and a fire to erupt. The fire engulfed the rear of the aircraft, and 41 of the 78 occupants were not able to evacuate and died."

Supply-chain issues are solvable. With a severe backlog and shortage of A220s, SSJ is an appealing alternative at a fraction of the price. Wait a decade or two and the price gap will close.

Norwegian is playing smart. I can't wait to hear more about commercial airlines experience with SSJ.

One would think that for fleets of 30 or 40 jets Sukhoi should be able to stand up something like a spare part supply chain, mayve even local to the area. This cant be impossible for them to do I`m thinking...

I love aviation because of the exhilarating thrill that we could all possibly die... and these planes are quite literally death traps! Love it!

@Ben (Lucky)

You mean to say not everyone can get left $400 million by Daddy and then squander it all in various bankruptcies, right? But I guess he can play catch up now, by forcing everyone in the government to use his properties, over charge them and screw over the sub-contractors.

But hey - even in Germany they were crying over the death of Adolph as the world was crumbling around them (Stalin too, as a matter of fact)...so he's got that going for him.

@Robert Hanson

So Russia and Ukraine is the new playground for children of politicians??
I guess 2020 will be rigged again regardless of who got elected. Long gone the old days of domestic scandals jeopardizing candidacy. Bristol Palin looks like a saint now.

Will somebody please put them out of their misery?

Also anybody know why they're currently not running any flights out of EWR?

Recently started reading this site and first time commenting:

From many years of observing the airline industry I have concluded when a 'troubled' airline makes objectively unusual equipment decisions, the end is near.

If my choice was flying on an SSJ100 versus a 737 MAX, I would opt with the former every time ! How many have each killed - to the math 😉

All I'm going to say is that Adria looked at this idea as well about 3 months before they went bust... 😀

More like "quid pro woah," amirite?

@Henry Young, if you're going by passengers carried vs. fatalities, pretty sure the MAX does better than the Sukhoi, as the MAX has flown way more than the SSJ, even with the groundings. Guessing easily an order of magnitude more passengers carried, so statistically safer than the Sukhoi despite a single event on the latter that didn't kill everyone.