Sukhoi (UAC) · Regional jet
Sukhoi Superjet 100
Is the Sukhoi Superjet 100 safe? It ranks Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary of 53 airliner families we rate, with 1 fatal accident counted in about 1.1 million passenger flights.
How the score is built
- Fatal passenger accidents
- 1 in 1.1 million flights
0.92 fatal passenger accidents per million flights. Counted: passenger flights, accidents and unexplained losses; not counted: sabotage, hijackings, shoot-downs and deliberate crew acts.
- Full-loss equivalents
- 0.53
Each counted accident adds the share of people on board who died (1 = no survivors). This is what the score is based on.
- Flights flown
- 1.1 million
Estimated passenger departures. Passenger departures 2011 to 7 October 2026. 2019-2022: OpenSky flights by passenger airlines, re-weighted to World Bank departures country by country. Other years: fleet model (deliveries with few retirements so far, about 521 departures per aircraft per year, calibrated on OpenSky 2019). Uncertainty roughly ±25%.
- Technology generation
- Gen 4 jet (fly-by-wire with flight envelope protection)
Small fleets are pulled toward the record of their generation: 0.041 full-loss equivalents per million flights over 328 million flights. Weight of this family's own record: 27%.
- Last fatal passenger accident
- 5 May 2019
Aeroflot Russian International Airlines, Moskva-Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO), Russia: 41 of 78 people on board died.
- Hull losses
- 5
Civil aircraft destroyed or written off from all causes, including non-fatal accidents, cargo flights and attacks; airframes flown by air forces on military operations are left out (context only, not in the score).
Compared with everyday risks
One flight on the Sukhoi Superjet 100 carries about the same risk of death as the activities near it below.
- An hour's walk1 in 14 million
- One flight on the Sukhoi Superjet 100This aircraft1 in 6.3 million
- Driving 100 miles (160 km)1 in 5.9 million
- A day of skiing1 in 1.3 million
- An ordinary day: accidents and violence1 in 1 million
- A scuba dive1 in 500,000
- Cycling 100 miles (160 km)1 in 430,000
- Running a marathon1 in 290,000
- A skydive1 in 250,000
- A general anaesthetic1 in 100,000
- Riding a motorbike 100 miles (160 km)1 in 83,000
Accident history
1 fatal accident counts toward the score, with 41 people on board killed.
| Date | Flight | Killed | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aeroflot Russian International AirlinesSuperjet 100-95B · Moskva-Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO), Russia | 41 / 78 on board | A lightning strike after takeoff knocked the flight controls into direct mode and cut radio contact. On the return to Sheremetyevo the captain's inputs caused three heavy bounces that broke the wings and fuel lines, and a fire spread through the rear of the cabin.Type: Hard landing or abnormal runway contactASN record |
Listed but not counted
These events did not happen on regular passenger flights or were caused by a crime or a deliberate act, which says little about the aircraft design.
| Date | Flight | Killed | Why not counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| GazpromaviaSuperjet 100-95LR · Ozyorsky District, Moskow Region, Russia | 3 / 3 on board | Ferry flight without passengers. On a ferry flight after maintenance, the Superjet behaved oddly, then its speed and angle-of-attack protections both engaged and drove it into a steep dive the crew could not stop. The angle-of-attack sensor covers had been swapped left for right in maintenance.Type: System failureASN record | |
| Sukhoi Civil AircraftSuperjet 100-95B · 75 km S of Jakarta, Indonesia | 45 / 45 on board | Test flight. Sales demonstration flight for journalists and airline guests that drifted out of a holding orbit, descended and hit Mount Salak. Investigators found the crew did not know about the mountain, dismissed terrain warnings and were distracted by conversation.Type: Flight into terrainASN record |
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a modern design with a weak and short record. It has had one fatal passenger crash, plus a fatal demonstration flight and a fatal ferry flight, in only about a million passenger flights. Since 2022 it has also flown under Western sanctions that cut it off from its engine partner. For most travellers outside Russia, this is an aircraft you will no longer see.
Where you fly on a Superjet
Sukhoi built the Superjet as Russia's first new airliner after the Soviet era, with Western partners for the engines and many systems. It first flew in 2008 and entered service in 2011. About 230 have been built and around 150 are in service, nearly all in Russia: Aeroflot, Rossiya, Azimuth, Yamal and Red Wings fly it on domestic and short regional routes. Interjet in Mexico and CityJet in Ireland flew it in the 2010s and have since dropped it.
The fleet flies far less than other regional jets of its size. Our exposure data shows about 520 departures per aircraft per year, against well over 1,000 for the E-Jet. Low use is often a sign of aircraft waiting on the ground for engines or parts.
Design and support under sanctions
The Superjet has Fly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary controls and a modern cockpit, and we group it with fourth-generation jets in our methodology. Its SaM146 engines come from PowerJet, a joint venture of Safran and NPO Saturn. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Western sanctions ended Safran's role and blocked most Western parts and support. Russian airlines have had to keep the fleet flying with domestic overhaul and parts. Russia has been working on a version, sometimes called the SJ-100, with domestic PD-8 engines and systems.
We cannot measure from accident data how sanctions affect safety, because the effect would show up slowly. It is a real reason for caution all the same.
The fatal record
Three events killed people on board up to 7 October 2026:
- 9 May 2012, Sukhoi demonstration flight, Mount Salak, Indonesia: during a sales tour, the aircraft flew into a mountain south of Jakarta. All 45 on board, including airline representatives and journalists, died. Indonesia's investigators found that the crew, distracted by conversation, ignored the terrain warnings.
- 5 May 2019, Aeroflot 1492, Moscow Sheremetyevo: lightning struck the aircraft after take-off, and the crew returned with the flight controls in a degraded mode. The jet bounced on landing, the gear failed and the fuel caught fire. 41 of the 78 people on board died. It is the only event that counts toward the score.
- 12 July 2024, Gazpromavia, Moscow Region: a ferry flight after maintenance crashed. Russian investigators found that the angle-of-attack sensor parts had been mixed up during maintenance; the false readings triggered the Fly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary protections, which pushed the nose down. All 3 crew died.
The final report on the 2019 crash blamed the captain's large, alternating stick inputs in the backup flight control mode for three hard landings. It also found that the gear's weak links broke as designed but the wing fuel tanks still ruptured, a gap between two sets of certification rules. Gear on airliners is meant to break away without opening the tanks.
How to tell if you are on one
Flight trackers show the type as SU95. The cabin is five-abreast (three plus two) with about 100 seats. If you fly domestic routes in Russia, check the aircraft type at booking. Western governments, including the UK and the US, advise against travel to Russia, and EU and UK airlines do not fly there, so for most readers the Superjet question will not come up.
Questions people ask
Is the Sukhoi Superjet safe to fly?
Its record is thin and mixed. It has had one fatal passenger accident, Aeroflot 1492 in 2019, but on a small number of flights, so that crash weighs heavily. Since 2022, sanctions have made engine and parts support harder, which adds uncertainty about how the fleet is maintained.
What happened to Aeroflot flight 1492?
On 5 May 2019, the Superjet was struck by lightning after take-off from Moscow Sheremetyevo and returned. It landed hard, bounced, and the landing gear failed; fuel caught fire. 41 of the 78 people on board died.
Who flies the Superjet 100?
Almost all of the roughly 150 in service fly in Russia, with Aeroflot, Rossiya, Azimuth, Yamal, Red Wings and others. Foreign operators such as Interjet in Mexico stopped flying it before 2022.
Which engines does the Superjet use?
The SaM146, built by PowerJet, a joint venture of France's Safran and Russia's NPO Saturn. Sanctions after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine ended Safran's support, and Russia has been developing a version with domestic PD-8 engines.
Sources
- 1.ASN record: Aeroflot flight 1492, Moscow Sheremetyevo, 5 May 2019 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 2.ASN record: Sukhoi Superjet 100 demonstration flight, Mount Salak, Indonesia, 9 May 2012 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 3.ASN record: Gazpromavia Superjet 100-95LR, Moscow Region, 12 July 2024 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 4.SafetyScorer exposure model: OpenSky Network flights 2019-2022, World Bank departures, fleet model (opens in a new tab)Passenger departures 2011 to 7 October 2026. 2019-2022: OpenSky flights by passenger airlines, re-weighted to World Bank departures country by country. Other years: fleet model (deliveries with few retirements so far, about 521 departures per aircraft per year, calibrated on OpenSky 2019). Uncertainty roughly ±25%.