New year, new prospects for the Sukhoi Superjet

2016 has started with quite a line-up of, more or less, confirmed and expected new orders for the Russian regional jet.

As recently as last August, at the time of the last MAKS air show in Moscow, the Sukhoi Superjet programme seemed to be going through a bit of a rough patch, commercially speaking, however the outlook seems to be brightening up of late.

Already in October an order from Irish carrier CityJet made the headlines. This order was Superjet's first order from Western Europe, but it might now be followed by Greenland Express, that until now was flying as a virtual airline in the Greenland-Iceland-Denmark corridor and has just acquired "white-label" airline Denim Air of the Netherlands, obtaining this way its own air operator certificate.

If this deal is confirmed it would possibly be a 5-aircraft leasing deal. The Nordic firm stated that the Superjet is ideal for the low temperature environments they usually operate in. In this regard, it is remarkable that Yakutia Airlines, the airline of Russia's Sakha Republic, one of the coldest places on Earth, is also a Superjet operator.

The other country that might hold much promise for the Superjet is Iran. While Airbus seems poised to be the big beneficiary of the lifting of sanctions, with a potential order of up to 114 aircraft, Superjet is aiming to sell 100 aircraft to the Middle Eastern nation. This deal, if finally confirmed, may see also some Iranian companies participating in the production of parts and components for the SSJ100.

Just in case, Aeroflot is ordering 20 additional Superjets, which, upon delivery, will bring its total fleet to 50.