MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax-AVN) - The Alitalia airline is considering the possibility of purchasing Russia's Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional passenger airplanes, Finmeccanica Corporation President Pier Francesco Guarguaglini said.
"Alitalia has made an order," Guarguaglini said at a ceremony, opening the space engineering department of Rome's Sapienza University, according to Italy's Avionews news agency.
"It [Alitalia] will now have to figure out whether or not our offer suits it. We hope that it will satisfy the air carrier," he said.
"It would be quite valuable [for Finmeccanica] to secure clients in Italy, especially as our production base is located in Venice," he said.
Guarguaglini said he was speaking about the Superjet International Russian-Italian joint venture, which is 51% controlled by Finmeccanica's subsidiary Alenia Aeronautica, and 49% by Russia's Sukhoi company.
Alitalia CEO Rocco Sabelli also confirmed the company's plans to enlarge its fleet of regional airplanes at a meeting with representatives of the Alitalia job union, according to Avionews.
It was reported earlier that there were orders for more than 100 Sukhoi Superjet 100 airplanes. Russia's Aeroflot and Armenia's Armavia air carrier plan to receive the first such planes before the end of the year.