Sukhoi Superjet 100 sales in Indonesia suspended

All planned Indonesian purchases of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 airliner, one of which crashed on Wednesday near Mount Salak in West Java, have been suspended until the cause of that accident has been thoroughly investigated.

"The investigation will find out whether the accident was the result of bad weather or human error," said Indra Djani, representative of PT Trimarga Rekatama, as quoted by kompas.com on Thursday.

PT Trimarga Rekatama is Sukhoi’s agent in Indonesia.

A team consisting of members of the National Committee for Transportation Safety (KNKT), as well as investigators from Russia will conduct an investigation to uncover the cause of the accident.

There are currently four buyers in Indonesia who have expressed serious interest in purchasing the Russian-made aircraft, including Sky Aviation who want to buy 12 units and Queen Air who want six.

When asked whether the accident would have an influence on any of the buyers' decisions, Indra said that he "didn't want to speculate".

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a new model of airliner that was built to help Russia develop its modern civil aviation industry. Russia also wanted to use the model to repair the negative image that the world has of Russian-made Soviet-era aircraft.

The aircraft is designed to carry 98 passengers with an operational range of 3,048 kilometers for the basic version and 4,578 km for long-range version at an altitude up to 12,200 meters. Its maiden flight was in May 2008.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 crashed near Mt. Salak after losing contact with air-traffic controllers on Wednesday afternoon.

A helicopter discovered the wreckage of the plane at 9:15 a.m. on a hill near Mt. Salak at a height of 1,600 meters above sea level. (png)