Article Posted on : - Jun 16, 2009

Russia's Superjet 100 makes debut flight at Le Bourget. Credit: Ria Novosti

LE BOURGET, FRANCE (BNS): Russia’s latest passenger plane Sukhoi SuperJet-100 Monday made its debut at the 48th international aerospace show 'Paris Air Show-2009' in Le Bourget, Paris' neighbourhood.

Ria Novosti Monday said the flight, which was conducted in showers and low cloud, only lasted for a few minutes, but the Superjet 100 will be making daily flights. The first demonstration flight of the Sukhoi SuperJet-100 airliner was highlight of the exhibition, as the SuperJet-100 is the only new passenger plane to be shown in action during demonstration flights.

"This year the Le Bourget air show celebrates its centenary and will be the first event in a vast program of official functions during the Year of the Russian Federation in France and the Year of France in the Russian Federation (2010)," the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation's press service stated.

The Superjet 100 project is a family of medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company in cooperation with U.S. and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace and Honeywell.
The first Superjet 100 aircraft has already made several long-distance and 40 short-distance test flights, clocking over 100 flight hours. A total of four planes will take part in the Russian certification program, which should be completed in the third quarter of 2009.

The Paris Air Show-2009 will be held until June 21.