CAIRO, February 3. /TASS/. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry is in negotiations with Egypt’s EgyptAir airline on the supply of 40 SSJ-100 (Sukhoi Superjet-100) planes, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said on the Rossiya 24 TV channel on Wednesday.

"We are currently negotiating (with EgyptAir) the possibility of supplying up to 40 SSJ-100 aircraft. This is a big ambitious project, which will ensure loading of our production capacities for the near future. Of course, this depends on many factors, in particular, the financial terms that we will be elaborating with our financial institutions. But most importantly, there is the good will and interest and a clear-cut program which aircraft will be replaced in this case by our SSJ-100," he said.

Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) previously planned to transfer to EgyptAir 12 SSJ-100 jets for trade-in with an option for 12 jets more. A trade-in option for 15 Embraer-170 aircraft was also discussed with the Egyptian airline.

A total of 64 SSJ 100 aircraft are currently in service, according to Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCA) data. The largest aircraft operators are Aeroflot (26 airplanes), Mexico’s Interjet (19) and Gazpromavia (10 jets of the long-range series). The SSJ-100 aircraft are produced in two versions: 75-seat and 95-seat jets (the number of seats may vary depending on the passenger cabin configuration).