Bahrain Air eyes Russian deal for new planes

Bahrain Air is in talks with Russia on the purchase of up to five Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ) regional passenger aircraft, it has been reported. “We are considering the purchase of planes with capacity of 100-130 passengers,” the airline’s CEO Richard Nuttall said in comments published by Russian news agency RIA Novosti. He added that the company will choose between the SSJ and Canadian Bombardier. The airline will make the final decision by the end of March and is expecting delivery in 2014-2015, it quoted Nuttall as saying. It said Russian United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) officials confirmed preliminary talks with Bahrain’s second flag carrier on the SSJ purchase Superjet 100 is a family of medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by Sukhoi in cooperation with US and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace and Honeywell. The aircraft is capable of carrying up to 100 passengers for up to 4,500 kilometers. Sukhoi has received over 200 firm orders for Superjet 100 airliners so far. There are currently five Superjet 100s in service with Armavia and Aeroflot.