Orient Thai aims to replace their MD-80s with Sukhoi Superjet 100s

[IberiaMD-87]

Orient Thai Airlines (One-Two-GO) aims to replace their MD-80-fleet (officially numbering eleven aircraft) with up to 24 Sukhoi Superjet 100, including a firm order for twelve aircraft. A MOU was signed yesterday.

Regards!

[Jerrycobra Boeing]

nice to see the russians gaining some market, won't be surprising when korea starts selling planes like hot cakes

[TeeVee]

until they start falling out of the sky like antonovs?

[IberiaMD-87]

Let´s wait and see what happens. The history showed that One-Two-GO (Orient Thai) was and seems to be unable to realize their commitments made. Once the company claimed to be a costumer for Boeing 737NGs and at a later stage up to 14 MD-80s of JAL were on the agenda. Actually Orient Thai operates only a number of their MD-80s whiel other aircraft are believed to be stored.

Regards!

[FLL550]

Speaking of falling out of the sky, wasn't this the airline that had the nasty MD-82 crash back in 2007 or was that one-two-go?

[IberiaMD-87]

...wasn't this the airline that had the nasty MD-82 crash back in 2007 or was that one-two-go?

You are right. One of their MD-82s crashed in 2007 with many fatalities.

Regards

[FLL550]

You are right. One of their MD-82s crashed in 2007 with many fatalities.

Regards

So if I were them I'd want the entire fleet gone as well for PR reasons. (and that MD-80 series is fading pretty fast considering production stopped only ten years ago.) In addition, it's a gas guzzler and is called the "Mad Dog" for obvious reasons, but I don't think it has been banned anywhere do to that yet.

[SAMRPICS]

Is this the first order for the Superjet outside of Russia or have i just missed some. Also regarding the MD80, i know what you mean, they are in decline in Europe with Alitalia and SAS both pratically retiring aircraft fairly quickly. Iberia retired theirs a few years back and i think Spanair have now dropped most of theirs. Good news for Orient Thai if they can indeed meet this commitment.

[IberiaMD-87]

I tend to say that it is the MD-80 who enabled Orient Thai/One-Two-GO to continue their operation up until now. The company was and is probably not in the position to finance considerably higher leasing-fees only for the sake of operating newer aircraft. Newer aircraft would cost up more upfront and I doubt that the savings would compensate the higher costs of the newer aircraft.

Regards

[tsv]

until they start falling out of the sky like antonovs?

I'll take this as a tongue in cheek remark but nevertheless feel obliged to point out that the Antonov's that "fall out of the sky" are invariably old, poorly maintained and operated by poorly financed airlines. Many of the crashes happen in places like the Congo which is probably the most dangerous place on the planet to catch a flight.

Off topic but coincidentally I just returned from a trip to Russia and was lucky enough to fly on a Rossiya Airlines AN-148 from SVO to LED. Great little aircraft which was very zippy on the runway and felt very powerful. Rossiya (who Skytrax rate as a only a 2 star airline) were also impressive and offered good service. The Antonov was very new and clean and was fairly quiet considering the motor was just outside my window!

Even more off topic but the new SVO terminal is absolutely superb, as good any airport in the world I've seen. DME was not so good, a lengthy wait at Passport Control in an un-airconditioned room awaited us after a 9 hour haul from NRT with JL. The arrivals area was full of the usual Taxi Mafia screaming "Taxi Nado" (need taxi?) to everyone who arrived. I find this a particulary annoying aspect of flying in Russia. Interestingly at VKO airport there is a civilized Taxi Booking Desk where you make your booking, pay for it and then go outside and give the driver the receipt. This is a great idea and keeps the Taxi drivers where they should be, i.e sitting in their cabs outside the terminal, waiting their turn in the que.

On the way home (Friday Aug 6th) DME was thick with smoke (even inside the terminal) and conditions were oppressive. The smoke was so thick (outside) that you could scarcely identify the planes sitting just a couple of gates down from ours. Many flights were cancelled and delayed (because visibilty was so low Pilots were having trouble landing and many diverted). There were countless gate changes. We were really relieved when our EY flight to AUH departed on time.

Is this the first order for the Superjet outside of Russia or have i just missed some. Also regarding the MD80, i know what you mean, they are in decline in Europe with Alitalia and SAS both pratically retiring aircraft fairly quickly. Iberia retired theirs a few years back and i think Spanair have now dropped most of theirs. Good news for Orient Thai if they can indeed meet this commitment.

No some minor Italian Airline (or leasing Company) ordered 10 at Paris last year. There was also an order by Malev but at the time Malev's stock was controlled by Aeroflot. Apparently this is no longer the case so there is speculation the order won't proceed. Sukhoi haven't commented on whether the order will go ahead AFAIK.

Who knows if Orient Thai will find the $ to pay for their Sukhoi's but it would be great to see some new Russian metal in that part of the world.