MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Russia's new Superjet 100 airliner is set to be the star turn at Le Bourget 2009, the Paris airshow where it is set to make its debut appearance.

"The Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 airplane will be a genuine star at our anniversary air show, primarily because it serves as a perfect example of cooperation between Russia and European countries," Gilles Fournier, Le Bourget's managing director, told reporters in Moscow.

And in that spirit of European collaboration, manufacturers Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) agreed to sell a 25 per cent (plus one share) stake to Italian firm Alenia Aeronautica. The deal was officially done at Moscow's Vnukovo-3 airport beside the first prototype of the Sukhoi Superjet 100.

The 48th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget on June 15-21, which marks 100 years of technological innovation in aeronautics and space conquest, will be the first chance for most aviation enthusiasts to see the new plane.

The Superjet 100 project is a family of medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company in cooperation with U.S. and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace and Honeywell.

The first Superjet 100 aircraft has already made one long-distance and 40 short-distance test flights, clocking over 100 flight hours. The certification program should be completed in the third quarter of 2009.

Sukhoi, part of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), plans to manufacture at least 700 Superjet 100s, and intends to sell 35 per cent of them to North America, 25 per cent to Europe, 10% to Latin America, and 7 per cent to Russia and China.

The company earlier said it had about 100 solid orders for the Superjet 100 so far and planned new deals during the Le Bourget and MAKS air shows this year.

Sukhoi is expected to deliver the first Superjet 100 airliner to Russia's flagship carrier Aeroflot in December.