Armavia refuses purchase of SuperJet -100: Russian gov. to deal with issue

Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) JSC, will study the issue of operation of a SuperJet -100 plane by Armenia's national air carrier, Armavia airline.A relevant protocol on the results of a meeting on development of long-term passenger air transportation chaired by Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, in Novosibirsk, on August 7.This July, Armavia fornfirmed its refusal to purchase a second SuperJet -100 plane in favor of three Airbus и Boeing planes, http://vz.ru reports.Andrey Shenk, an analysis for the Investcafe agency (http://investcafe.ru/), says that the Armavia management decided that the Russian plane was more expensive. The experts believes the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) JSC managers would not reduce the price to prevent other clients from demanding the same.A well-informed source says that Armavia refused to purchase a second SuperJet -100 plane because of its financial problems.According to the source, even the first SuperJet-100 was purchased on security, and the airline would not be able to effect lease payments for a second plane.Armavia purchased the first Sukhoi Superjet-100 last April, it was named Yuri Gagarin. This April, UAC President Mikhail Poghosyan reported that the plane's flying time in one year reached 2,000 hours, which was a high result for a new plane.   Read more... (220 words)

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