Reports have emerged that Serbia and Russia will resume talks over the potential purchase of Sukhoi SSJ100 aircraft for Air Serbia. Is this a political matter, or is the airline actually involved?

Sukhoi needs a customer

Simple Flying previously compared the Sukhoi SSJ100 to Airbus' A220 aircraft, viewing the SSJ as a direct competitor.

The SJ100 is a regional plane that can fly 100 passengers to a distance of 1,894 nautical miles. This is less than the range of the Airbus A220 but the SSJ is selling for about half the price.

Azimuth Airlines is the only airline operating a fleet of all-Sukhoi aircraft. Recently it turned a profit for the first time, raising the profile of Sukhoi as a potentially profitable fleet option.

Sukhoi is very keen to find a customer in Europe to raise the profile of its SSJ100 aircraft. Presently, only Russian airline Aeroflot continues to use the aircraft in Europe on regular scheduled flights. Indeed, it recently agreed to take five more.

One such European customer was meant to be Adria Airways. Adria ordered 15 SSJ-100 which were due for delivery in April 2019. But the deal fell through after Sukhoi made the judgment that Adria Airways was not in a sound financial position. And it was right, because Adria subsequently collapsed.

azimuth airlines sukhoi
Azimuth Airlines could be considered the biggest success story of 2019 in Russia. Photo: Dmitry Terekhov via Flickr.

Air Serbia badly needs new aircraft

Meanwhile, Air Serbia is examining its options for fleet renewal. The airline is in need of new aircraft for two reasons.

Firstly, Air Serbia is undergoing a significant network expansion. After it launched 21 new routes last year, this year it plans to launch another 10. Thus, it requires additional capacity.

Secondly, Air Serbia has a pressing need to replace its existing capacity. The airline has one of the oldest fleets of any national airline in Europe. The average age of Air Serbia aircraft is 18 years, according to Airfleets. In its fleet are four Boeing 737 aircraft that are 34 years old and six ATR 72 aircraft that are over 24 years old. Even its Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft are on average 18 years old.

As Simple Flying reported in December, Air Serbia appears to be close to a major deal with Sukhoi to lease or purchase the SSJ100 for this fleet expansion. Last week, the Serbian news portal Novosti reported that there is now going to be another political meeting to facilitate this.

Air Serbia Airbus A330 New York JFK
Russians looking to return home have been reccomended to fly through Belgrade, creating inbound and outbound traffic. Photo: Getty Images

Would Sukhoi SSJ100 be right for Air Serbia?

For the past six months, there have been news reports in local media that Serbia and Russia are in talks about a Sukhoi order for Air Serbia.

However, these have never actually included any official statement from Air Serbia itself. It appears that the airline is less interested in the order than Serbian and Russian politicians are.

The latest story involves Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov, who announced this resumption of talks as part of a lengthier speech on the investments that Russia wants to undertake in Russia.

So if Air Serbia has never publicly proclaimed it wants the aircraft, but the governments are keen to make the deal happen, will it still go ahead?