19th-25th July 2004.
Hampshire, UK.

Between 19th and 25th July 2004, Sukhoi participated in the Farnborough international air show. This year, we wanted to provide a comprehensive insight into the entire range of the holding's products and services, with the emphasis on promoting joint projects with the world's leading aircraft manufacturers. Sukhoi's exhibit, set up as an integral part of the single Russian presence at the trade show, presented the Company's lineup of Su-marque military aircraft.

It included the Su-30MKK, Su-30MKI, Su-32 and Su-39. On display in addition were other models and mock-ups of air-launched missiles made by the Vympel and Raduga GosMKB defence contractors. The centrepiece of our participation this year, however, was civil aircraft: at Farnborough we unveiled a mock-up of the cabin of the RRJ series of Russian regional aircraft. The series comprises six versions, all of them meeting state-of-the-art world standards, which will make it possible to supply the aeroplanes not only to the domestic market but also for export. The projected sales of the RRJ aircraft series is currently estimated at more than $12bn.

Experts believe that the aircraft, which is under joint development with Boeing, may generate total demand on the international and Russian domestic markets through 2020 for as many as 800 examples, which would account for 10% of the global market in medium-haul aircraft. The new Russian plane has already generated interest among major carriers such as Siberia airline, Russia's leading domestic airliner, which announced on 19th July its firm intention to purchase 50 RRJ aircraft, worth about $1bn. Under the agreement, signed between Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (CJSC) and the Siberia airline at the Farnborough air show, the airline is expected to acquire 50 baseline-configuration RRJ 95 planes, with deliveries scheduled to commence in 2007. All the planes will have SM146 engines made by the joint venture of France's Snecma and Russia's Saturn SPA, which is not only the engine supplier for allplanes of the series, but also Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (CJSC)'s partner, sharing the risks under the RRJ programme. "We are happy that it is Siberia, the fastest growing airline in Russia, that has become our first customer.

This will allow us to announce in the nearest future the launch of a full-scale programme to develop the new series of Russian regional aircraft. The scale and timeframe of the order validate Sukhoi's strategy to expand into the market of short-haul aircraft," said Sukhoi AHC (JSC)'s CEO M.A. Pogosyan, when commenting on the agreement. With the air show still in progress, it also became known that Russian airline UTair intends to purchase the Russian regional planes in October 2004. Moreover, on 21st July Sukhoi signed a memorandum with Russian Post FSUE, which gives the post office an option to purchase a freighter version of the RRJ.

In developing a new Russian regional aeroplane, Sukhoi is striving to change the current situation, in which military products account for 95% of Sukhoi AHC (JSC)'s production. The balance between the military and civil products in the long-term is expected to be 55 to 45 or 60 to 40, with defence contracts still remaining a major line, but yielding to civil projects in terms of Sukhoi production output share.