"and if I remember correctly, a large portion of their ssj fleet spent a majority of time on the ground, instead of in the air."
Wrong
Not really.
As sources in the industry state, level of readiness of the russian airplane is 50-60%. But even this is not the main problem. Companies complain they have to wait sometimes for several months for necessary spare parts to arrive, during which airframes are grounded and don't make any money.
Как утверждают источники в отрасли, степень исправности российских самолетов колеблется на уровне 50-60%. Но даже не это является основной проблемой эксплуатантов. Больше всего представители авиакомпаний жалуются на то, что иногда необходимые запчасти приходится ждать по несколько месяцев, в течение которых лайнеры простаивают и не приносят прибыль.
http://samolety.org/rossijskie-ekspl...-superjet-100/
In total, the number of failures for 1000 hr period of ops is 150-200% higher than the numbers for analogues western types of A/C.
В целом, если фиксировать все отказы в работе систем за 1000 часов полета, то у SSJ-100 данный показатель будет выше на 150-200%, чем у аналогичных серийных машин западных производителей.
http://samolety.org/rossijskie-ekspl...-superjet-100/
They are quite happy with 757s, 767s and 777s or 320/330s that they use ....
If SSJ was on par with those:
1) why would SSJ be forced onto Aeroflot, in the first place?
2) why would Aeroflot start complaining about SSJs, if the type is no different in terms of time-on-the-ground from the B or A types of A/C?
If it is a profitable, cheap and reliable A/C type, why would Aeroflot start throwing a meaningless tantrum about profitability, if no such problem exists?
It makes no sense.
If Aeroflot complains, that means, the business perceives it as a larger problem, comparing to what they have with western types, don't you think?