Bloggers alert on defects in Sukhoy jet, Armavia denies

PanARMENIAN.Net - The first Sukhoy Superjet 100 will arrive in Armenia in late February, Armavia director general said.

“The jet is named after the first spaceman Yuri Gagarin, whose daughter will be present at the jet presentation in Yerevan,” Norayr Belluyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

Meanwhile, bloggers alert on defects in the aircraft. “This is the seventh superjet but nothing has changed since the first one was produced. There are numerous spalls, cracks and, in general, the jet seems to have been assembled by students but not masters,” blogger Parfaits wrote in his LiveJournal (parfaits.livejournal.com).

Nevertheless, Mr. Belluyan denied existence of any defects.

“Our experts have scrupulously examined the jet and found no shortcomings,” he said.

The Superjet 100 is a family of medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by Sukhoi in cooperation with U.S. and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace and Honeywell.

The aircraft is capable of carrying 75-95 passengers up to 4,500 kilometers.