Maintenance

Hungarian pact could see Budapest host Superjet MRO base

By Tom Zaitsev

Hungary has agreed in principle to host a maintenance centre for Russian-built Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional aircraft as the manufacturer moves closer to serial production.

The country’s flag-carrier, Malev, has concluded a related trilateral agreement with Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and Vnesheconombank under the aegis of the Hungarian and Russian governments.

Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany says the proposed MRO facility in Budapest will give an opportunity to service Superjet 100 aircraft within the entire European Union. He believes this will pave the way for marketing and selling the type to the European airlines.

His Russian counterpart Viktor Zubkov is confident that technical support centres for Superjets will also be set up in other areas. He says: “We would like to have them in other European countries that will acquire this aircraft type eventually.”

Malev could become an operator of the Superjet 100 after new owner Airbridge, which is affiliated with Russia’s AirUnion alliance, signed a protocol earlier this year over the carrier’s potential use of the aircraft.

AirUnion’s core member, KrasAir, has commitments to take 15 of the 95-seat version, with the first batch due for delivery in 2008-09. AirUnion is understood to be considering assigning some of these to Malev.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news