New Delhi, Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has said that it had started talks with Indian firms on the delivery of SuperJet-100 passenger airliners and other civil aircraft to the country.

The SuperJet-100 project is a family of medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau in cooperation with major US and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace and Honeywell.

“We have started preliminary talks with a number of Indian companies on the delivery of SuperJet-100 airliners,’ Alexei Fyodorov, UAC’s general director, said here without specifying the potential customers.

Sukhoi, which is part of the UAC, plans to manufacture at least 700 Superjet-100s, and intends to sell 35 percent of them to North America, 25 percent to Europe, 10 percent to Latin America, and 7 percent to Russia and China.

Sukhoi earlier said it had so far secured at least 100 firm orders for the aircraft.

Fyodorov, who attended a meeting of the Russian-Indian intergovernmental commission on military-technical cooperation in New Delhi, said that the Indian civil aircraft market is important for Russian manufacturers.

“The Indian civil aviation market is very attractive. It is very dynamic and has a large potential,” he said.

The UAC is also holding talks with India on deliveries of the Be-200 amphibious plane for the country’s coast guard.

Russia’s UAC, which is 90 percent state owned, incorporates aircraft building companies and state assets engaged in the manufacture, design and sale of military, non-military, transport and unmanned aircraft in a bid to streamline the Russian aviation industry.

Fyodorov said UAC would open its office in India by the end of 2008.

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