Transaero, Russia's second-largest airline, has agreed to buy four Airbus A380 jets, becoming the first carrier in the ex-Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to order the world's biggest passenger jet. Under a preliminary deal signed between European plane maker Airbus and Transaero earlier Friday, the Russian carrier will purchase four superjumbo jets to expand a fleet that until now has mostly consisted of Boeing aircraft, Transaero spokesman Konstantin Tyurkin told AFP.
He added that the deliveries would not be made before late 2015. Tyurkin declined to put a price tag on the contract but said the catalogue price of four aircraft was $1.5 billion (1.05 billion euros). "We definitely see market potential for the A380 in Russia," Airbus quoted John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer for customers as saying.