Fate of Russia Sukhoi Superjet-100 uncertain after fiery crash

[Editor’s Note] Sukhoi Company is a major Russian manufacturer of civilian and military aircraft. Sukhoi’s Superjet-100 became Russia’s first civilian aircraft after the collapse of the Soviet era.

On May 5 a Sukhoi Superjet operated by Aeroflot, Russia’s flag carrier, erupted in flames during an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. 41 of the 78 passengers and crew on board perished.

In this report Moscow’s top newspaper Life.ru considers whether the SSJ-100 is as bad as it is portrayed by commentators.

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THE FACT that the Sukhoi’s Superjet-100 became a “Burning Hell – A coffin on wings,” has already been expressed by a huge number of “experts. Starting with Alyona Vodonaevoy. And ending with pilot Yuri Sytnik, a member of the Flight Commission under the President of the Russian Federation.

But there is one snag: the plane was approved by the regulatory authorities of the European Union and the United States, which in itself is indicative and is a huge success for Russia aviation.

Superjet-100 competitors

The SSJ-100 was the first Russian attempt to make a short-haul passenger aircraft. This story dates back to the 2000s – it was then that the Russian authorities were concerned about the revival of the domestic aviation industry. We needed a firstborn, a pilot project that thunders around the world. Who will develop it, decided on the state competition.

The main competitor of Sukhoi was Tupolev aerospace. It would seem that the greater advantage for building a superjet was with Tupolev. For Tupolev had enormous experience building civilian aircraft in the old USSR.

But the government considered the Tupolev model obsolete. And Sukhoi played a fast hand card:  It said it could provide guarantees that the new superjet would receive European certification in order to export a future aircraft. 

Photo: © AP Photo / Marina Lystseva

On paper, Sukhoi’s project looked promising. At that time, the market for regional and short-range jets was under supplied. In fact, there were only two direct competitors – Brasil’s Embraer E-Jet and Canada’s Bombardier C Series.

Plus, the ubiquitous American Boeing 737. For now, let’s not consider China’s aviation development (ARJ 21) and Japan (MRJ). They are having no success at all – they are marking time.

Unfortunately, for Sukhoi, as the aircraft was designed the situation on the global market changed. Embraer and Bombardier aircraft managed to recover from “growing pains”, to get profitable contracts. And in 2018, they even came under the care of the mega brands – Boeing and Airbus, respectively.

How the SSJ-100 compares with its competitors, see our infographic:.

Infographics: © LIFE

The Boeing 737, is, of course, out of  the competition. But we must understand that Boeing’s model is established and tested. All deficiencies in it have long been eliminated. Embraer looks better than ours. 

But there are also nuances that should be paid attention to. Very much under unequal conditions are Brasilian and Russia domestic aircraft. Brasil’s Embraer has no problems with after sale service unlike Russia’s aviation parts and service problems.

Adverse sales conditions 

In 2017, Brussels Airlines was placing high hopes on the Superjet-100.

“We consider it to be an aircraft from a Russian manufacturer, which took production technology around the world to create a modern design corresponding to the 21st century,” the airline’s press service noted. 

But already in 2018, the Belgians abandoned our aircraft in favor of the Canadian Bombardier jets. The reason is technical malfunctions of the SSJ-100, which are difficult to eliminate due to the lack of spare parts and lack of specialists.

“Even the manuals for servicing the aircraft were not all translated into English. So every time we had to contact the Russian support service,” stressed then director of Brussels Airlines Christina Foerster.

As a result over the past decade, Sukhoi only wrote two active foreign contracts worth a total of $ 2.3 billion. In 2014, 30 Interjet aircraft were sold, and a year later another 15 were ordered by Irish CityJet. But these successes may come to naught.

Mexico wants to reduce the number of their Superjets, and the Irish have altogether curtailed cooperation. The reasons (according to Bloomberg and RBC) are the same – problems with after-sales service and a too long supply of spare parts.

Photo: © Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation

Cascading adversity

“One of the key indicators in the industry is the flight time per day,  ” says Alexander Fridland, Director of the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Forecasting at the State Research Institute of Civil Aviation. A plane makes a profit only when it is in the sky. The smaller the route, the more expensive for the carrier is the lease payment.

And Sukhoy routes are shorter than its counterparts. And not only the plane itself loses to foreign competitors, but the organization of its service. Now the most pressing issue for Sukhoi in maintaining the operational viability of the SSJ-100, is the supply of spare parts.

• It’s a maddening cascade of adverse forces. Without a developed servicing ability, it is difficult to win market share. On the other hand, not having a wide geography of sales then  it is senseless to invest in repair stations, the independent expert Dmitry Adamidov is pessimistic. “Is it worth for Russia to get involved in the global race, to challenge those corporations that have available credit resources at 1–2% per annum? Or is it easier to forget about export prospects?”
• The production program could justify itself through sale to the domestic market. But this is hampered by the poor development of regional air transport. In 1991 we had 1,450 airfields, today there are 228 left – less than in Alaska alon, says designer Sukhoi Vadim Lukashevich.

A maddening cascade of adversity plagues Superjet-100. Considering these conditions,  Superjet-100  obstacles are too formidable. There are a lot of problems and deficiencies.

Here is the last example:

About how much the “kool-ade did the grandmas drink?” In fact, a lot. The development of the aircraft itself cost the state 44 billion rubles. In 2015, Vladimir Putin ordered to pay off the debts of “Sukhoi” – another 100 billion.

Later, the State Transport Leasing Company received a subsidy of 74 billion for the purchase of jets. In 2018, there was still a state purchase of almost two billion rubles in order to carry out a set of works to improve the aircraft’s characteristics. Total 220 billion rubles, or 3.4 billion dollars at the current rate. For comparison: a little more was spent on the Canadian Bombardier jet, twice as much – on the Chinese ARJ 21.

A few more numbers: Of 191 of SSJ-100 jets are currently produced, only 111 are in operation.

Public Relations Battle

After the terrible catastrophe at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, an unsophisticated person could well feel dazed from the abundance of versions for the cause of the crash. They fall out of every skillet: “It is the fault of the Ministry of Emergency Situations”, Or: “No, the passengers themselves are guilty”,  And: “Maybe the captain of the plane made a blunder or the jet itself, which fell apart from lightning, was to blame.”

But if you look closely, it is not quite so simple. In the battle for life, and for death, come running the PR people from three sides. And separately comes running the airport squad. The claims against it are: “Where were the fire brigades, ambulances? And why did they wait so long to show up?”

Photo: © Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation

In all the media frenzy, we have the other participants of the media battle: Aeroflot and Sukhoi. If they are able to prove that the pilots are to blame, it would be very beneficial for the Sukhoi the jet manufacturer. If it is proved that the aircraft  collapsed due to a lightning strike, then Aeroflot will win the public relations battle.

Then there is the chairman and CEO of Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot, Vitaly Saveliev He has been at the aviaiton company’s helm since 2009

In 2018, Vitaly Saveliev joined Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, to sign an agreement to supply one hundred SSJ-100 to the national carrier.

All this with loud pomp and ceremony.

However, in practice, it turned out that the order for 49 planes of the jet already existing in the inventory barely reached 50%. This is very small! To correct all the “children’s mistakes” of new aircraft, it must be exploited at least at the level of 75%.

Saveliev’s explanations are logical: the “technical problems of airplanes” lead to the same maddening circle of problems. But the commercial company “Aeroflot” finds it is simply more profitable to work with foreign models of aircraft. It’s easier and cheaper.

The tragedy at Sheremetyevo Airport can put a bullet on Russia aircraft industry ambitions, which in Soviet times created up to 40% of the global civilian fleet.

At the same time, the Sukhoi Superjet is clearly not the worst plane. It is the hope for the revival of the domestic Russia aviation industry. But it also remains the fifth wheel for Russian air carriers.