Russia's second largest carrier orders four A380 superjumbos
29 Oct 2011
Moscow: Transaero, Russia's second-largest airline, has become the first carrier in the ex-Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to order the world's biggest passenger aircraft placing an order for four Airbus 380 superjumbos.
Up till now, the Russian carrier's fleet had mostly consisted of Boeing aircraft.
The carrier signed a preliminary agreement with Airbus on Friday, Transaero spokesman Konstantin Tyurkin said. He added that the deliveries would not be made before late 2015.
Declining to reveal the price tag he pointed out that the list price of four aircraft was $1.5 billion (1.05 billion euros).
"We definitely see market potential for the A380 in Russia," Airbus quoted John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer for customers as saying.
"Passenger traffic in this region is expected to increase at an average rate of 5.6 per cent per year over the next 20 years."