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Indonesian airline Sky Aviation has announced it is purchasing 12 new aircraft from Russia in a bid to take the fight to the major airlines on routes that currently lack competition.

The airline said on Wednesday that it would buy the Sukhoi Superjet 100 craft from manufacturer Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company in a $380 million deal.

The 100-seat aircraft, categorized as a regional explorer, has a cruising altitude of 40,000 feet and maximum speed of just below the speed of sound, making it a potential rival to the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.

Sky Aviation president Krisman Tarigan said he hoped the aeroplanes would arrive as early as Aug. 17, 2012, to celebrate the next Independence Day.

With the new SSJ 100, Sky Aviation said it would open domestic routes in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku and Papua that have historically been underserved by commercial airlines with mid-sized jets.

“We are ready to use the SSJ 100 on domestic and international routes,” Krisman said.

Sukhoi president Vladimir Prisyazhnyuk said he was confident the SSJ 100’s operational ability and performance would support the company’s development plan.

“We are happy to be able to work together with Sky Aviation, which is still considered as a new airline company, has managed to develop its networking and routes in Indonesia,” he said.

To finance the purchase, Krisman said Sky Aviation would use a Russian bank’s export-import loan scheme guaranteed by the Russian government.

“At the moment, we are still in discussion with the bank helped by SCAC. It will be loaned with a special interest rate, not a commercial one,” he said.

Sky Aviation, a unit of Group Petroneks Energy, is a relatively new player in the aviation industry, securing its flying permit in May 2009 from the Ministry of Transportation.

The company currently owns two nine-seat Grand Caravan airplanes, three 50-passenger Fokker 50 and two Cirrus SR 20 and SR 22, which can each carry three passengers. In addition, it also operates a 10 Sky Lander airplanes, which can each accommodate 19 passengers.

Dudi Sudibyo, an aviation expert, said the SSL 100, the first civilian aircraft produced by the Russian company, had generated significant international interest.

“It has certificates and has been displayed at air shows. There have been a lot of requests,” he said.

“However, we need to see how [Sukhoi] is going to perform in a market dominated by Europe’s Airbus and US’s Boeing. [The SSJ 100] is made in Russia, and they still need to prove their ability if they want to be successful in the commercial market.”

In February, the SSJ 100 obtained Type Certification from the Russian Certification Authority, and it is expected to get certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency this year. The first SSJ 100 produced by the company was delivered to an Armenian airline in April.

This year, Sky Aviation is transporting 1100 pilgrims from Riau to hajj embarkation points.

The nation’s aviation sector is dominated by state-controlled flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, but a range of smaller airlines have focused their energy on serving particular parts of the vast archipelago. Many domestic airlines have demonstrated a patchy safety record, though.