Lack of funding has delayed flights (300 words)

Published: 8/21/2000

According to Gennady Litvinov, Sukhoi's Chief Designer on the $45-50m S-80 programme, the delays in moving ahead with the S-80 are attributable to lack of funding. Litvinov dismissed the rumours of technical problems saying that the company had already spent $15m and simply required additional funds to commence flight and certification testing in Moscow. Litvinov says that the long-delayed flights will now take place in the fourth quarter of the year, but did not comment on the sources of the required funding. The first prototype of S-80 is completed and is already undergoing the static tests in Novosibirsk at SibNII and the second awaits completion in Moscow for flight-testing to commence. There are two more aircraft slated for the completion by KnAAPO in 2001 and one for 2002, completing the pre-production batch of five aircraft. According to Litvinov, Russian buyers although interested, are constrained from buying the $5.5-6m aircraft by lack of funding, but he does say they have received some interest from a number of potential foreign buyers including Libya, India, Vietnam and Malaysia. He does add however, that if there are to be successful sales of the aircraft to foreign operators considerable amounts of work and funding have to be put into supporting the aircraft in terms of sales packages and after sales support. Litvinov also believes that although funding remains a problem for Russian operators, the relative attractiveness of the aircraft is further diminished by the numbers of aging, but cheap, An-24s and An-26s, which can be acquired for as little as $0.3m. To date the only firm interest for the aircraft has come from regional operators Delta-K for 26 aircraft, although the funding for an order of such magnitude by the airline remains in doubt.

Article ID: 2012