Aerospace industries in Russia and China have deepened their ties as Finmeccania subsidiary Alenia Aeronautica finalized its 25%-plus one share in Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company.
The agreement was first disclosed in 2005 as Alenia and Sukhoi agreed to develop a joint venture for marketing of the Superjet that was established in 2007, based in Venice.
Today Russian and Italian officials in addition to Finmeccanica CEO Pier Francesco Guarguaglini announced completion of the deal. The stock acquired by Alenia is valued at 138 million Euros ($183 million).
"The deal closed today means that the biggest alliance between Russia and Italy in the aircraft industry has been fully developed," says Mikhail Pogosyan, Director General of Sukhoi Holding. "Further on, Alenia Aeronautica, our strategic partner, will solidify the Sukhoi Superjet 100 market potential worldwide and will provide our product with distinct logistic support".
Superjet has two aircraft in flight testing, with a third aircraft expected to begin testing shortly. The company expects Russian certification for the aircraft by year-end 2009, followed by first delivery to launch customer Aeroflot.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
