Sukhoi Superjet disappears above Indonesian mountains

Russia's Sukhoi SuperJet, a state-of-the-art civil airliner,  went off the radars during a demonstration flight in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The jet was carrying 44 passengers on board. The plane could have crashed into the mountains and could also be hijacked, officials said.

The aircraft did not return to the airport at the scheduled time following takeoff.  By that time, the fuel should have been totally spent, RT reports. 

The plane was carrying 44 people, including 8 Russians and 36 citizens from other countries - mostly representatives from major airline companies.

It was said that the jet was carrying 46 people but Dimitry Solodov, press attache at the Russian embassy in Jakarta, said he could confirm 44 on board, eight of them Russian airline crew members, and some journalists.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a modern, fly-by-wire regional jet in the 75- to 95-seat category. With development starting in 2000, the plane was designed by the civil aircraft division of the Russian aerospace company Sukhoi in co-operation with Western partners.

Its maiden flight was conducted on 19 May 2008 and the aircraft was certified by theInterstate Aviation Committee in January 2011 and by the European Aviation Safety Agency in February 2012. On 21 April 2011, the Superjet 100 performed its first commercial passenger flight, on the Armavia route from Yerevan to Moscow.

Designed to compete internationally with its Embraer and Bombardier counterparts, the Superjet 100 aims for substantially lower operating costs at the price of $35 million, securing over 300 orders by early 2011.

The final assembly of the plane is done by Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association, its SaM-146 engines are designed and produced by the French-Russian PowerJet joint venture and the plane is marketed internationally by the Italian-Russian SuperJet International joint venture