Next week's (25 January issue) cover star is the new Russian regional jet with the coverline proclaiming Superjet on a surge. Sukhoi's Italian-based sales partner Superjet International is confident that the latest sale, to Mexican carrier Interjet (whose mocked up aircraft appears on the cover) and upcoming hoped-for European certification will herald a breakthrough in terms of Western orders. While the Superjet's fortunes are better than they have been for some time, there is reason for caution, as we point out. At least two "customers", whose orders were widely trumpeted some years back, have quietly disappeared from the backlog.
Regional and smaller narrowbody types figure large in this week's news section. We examine the likelihood of a 90-seat ATR type and reveal that Virgin America - launch customer for the Airbus A320neo - came close to opting for the Bombardier CSeries as Toulouse dithered on announcing its new narrowbody plans.
We also assess the Airbus and Boeing year-end figures. What do they tell us about the state of the big two's performance and prospects?
With the MRO community converging in Dubai in just over a week's time, our Middle East maintenance special charts the latest twists and turns of the sector in that region.
And we have a feature on the Miracle on the Hudson A320's journey from river to aviation museum in Charlotte, Flight 1549's destination on that fateful day, where it will be preserved as an aviation icon
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