Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company has concluded a contract with Zambian carriers to deliver a total of five Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger planes in 2018, president of Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Yury Slyusar said Friday.

"Yesterday, we signed [contracts] on an absolutely new market — the African market, we signed a contract with Zambian companies to supply four [SSJ 100] planes plus one aircraft in the VIP version for the head of state," Slyusar said in an interview with Rossiya 24 television.

"The delivery of the aircraft to the African continent will take place as early as next year," he added.

Slyusar added that four more aircraft could be delivered to the newly created airline of Zambia.

On July 12, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade stated that active negotiations were underway to supply Russian airliners to a number of African countries, including Zambia.