Sukhoi Civil Aircraft has entered an agreement with a major financial institution to offer financing options for buyers from the Middle East and Asia, Emirates Business has learnt.

The agreement, which will be announced in detail this week, follows a lacklustre week for the company in Dubai where the Russian aircraft manufacturer failed to bag any orders or make any announcement.

Meanwhile, the company has completed assembly of the first ramp up production for its delayed commercial aircraft, Superjet 100. The first lot of airplanes is intended for launch customers – Aeroflot and Armavia.

Earlier this month, Aeroflot head Vitaly Savelyev had said the company expected its first delivery of the Superjet aircraft by the end of the year. The company was scheduled to receive one new jet per month starting in December, for a total of 30 aircraft at a discounted $21 million (Dh77.13m) each, which was later increased to $22.4m due to additional equipment expenses. The airline has an option to buy an additional 15 jets.

However, Sukhoi has delayed delivery to an unknown date citing delay in certification. Aeroflot hopes to replace its old Tu-134 jets with Superjets.

Due to rescheduling of engine certification and deliveries for the SSJ100 assembly, factory ground tests at the fourth flight and first ramp up production aircraft will now employ the engine's signal simulator.

"The fourth flight aircraft has achieved power on and the first ramp up production aircraft will begin factory ground tests late December upon wiring completion. The second ramp up production aircraft will be transferred to the factory ground systems tests in mid January 2010," Katja Byushgens, the company's spokesperson, told Emirates Business.

Todate, three Sukhoi Superjet 100s, involved in flight-test programmes, have accumulated 1,300 hours in the skies in 500 flights. The testing on takeoff/landing characteristics and aircraft performance have been completed, the company added.

"The acquired data demonstrate that the aircraft shows high match to the design parameters. Last month, we involved Easa pilots who completed a seven-flight test aimed at evaluation of handling performance, stability and control of the aircraft with ice shapes at high angles of attack," said Byushgens.

Fabrice Butin, Easa/CEV flight test engineer and the head of "Flight" panel within the Easa certification group, said members of the panel appreciated the work done by the SCAC to satisfy Easa certification team needs.

"Thus far, we have managed to deal with more than 50 per cent of the Critical Review Items (CRIs) suggested by Easa upon evaluation of our certification basis," said Igor Vinogradov, First Vice-President on the SSJ100 Program Co-ordination.

François Fabre, an EASA/CEV test pilot, said: "Although at this stage further data analysis is required, the aircraft both with and without ice shapes demonstrated adequate handling qualities."

President of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, Vladimir Prisyazhnyuk said: "In general, we sustain a dynamic pace in Sukhoi Superjet 100 flight certification programme. Nevertheless, the rescheduling of engine certification and deliveries inevitably lead to the update of SSJ100 Programme schedule in general.

"Beyond any doubt, the SaM146, produced by PowerJet, a joint venture between the Safran Group and NPO Saturn, is a state-of-the-art propulsion system awarding the Sukhoi Superjet 100 with a number of competitive advantages on the global arena. Now full scale engine ramp up production launch at NPO Saturn in Russia, stabilisation of SaM146 deliveries and precise alignment to its commitment by the engine supplier are the key factors in delivering the Sukhoi Superjet 100 Programme."

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