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Further Reading

AN-148

The Ukrainian An-148 first took to the skies in December 2004. Certification was supposed to be completed in the first half of 2006. From the project's inception, serial production of the aircraft was awarded to the Voronezh Aircraft Factory (VASO), and Ukranian Aviant. But after the presidential elections in Ukraine, and a subsequent cool-off in bilateral relations, VASO shelved the project. Only recently the An-148 has received the green light. In late November 2005, VASO and Antonov ASTC concluded a license agreement for launching the aircraft into commercial production in Russia in 2006.

Sukhoi and Antonov could avoid being rivals, if Sukhoi launched the production of 95-110-seat longer-range RRJ aircraft (3,000 km-5,000 km), while Antonov produced the 70-80-seat planes of shorter range (1,000 km-2,000 km). Russia is definitely interested in the An-148 project, because Russian enterprises produce 69% of the aircraft component parts.

In Russia, the Ilyushin Finance Co, (IFC) is in charge of aircraft sales, operational and financial leasing. It already has tentative agreements with Russian companies for the purchase of 54 aircraft. The Ukrainian airline Aerosvit wants to buy 10 An-148's from the Voronezh assembly plant, and Kazakhstan, another seven. VASO initially planned to assemble about 250 aircraft in 10 years.

The license agreement gave Russia the right to develop the basic An-148 version into a military transport, special aircraft, cargo and cargo-passenger planes. In expert estimates, the Russian armed forces and other power structures may require up to 200 such aircraft for the maritime patrol service, units of radio-electronic warfare, radio-technical and tactical reconnaissance, the airborne command center, and as a refueler.

Besides the Il-96, as of mid-2006 VACO was engaged on the production of assemblies for 5 An-148 aircraft for the Antonov Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex. In addition, the company already had 33 orders for this aircraft and another 20 were being discussed.

In June 2008 the Voronezh-based aircraft manufacturer VASO launched production of an An-148 regional medium-haul plane. The United Aircraft Corporation chief executive Alexei Fyodorov said the first aircraft would roll off the assembly line before the end of the year. The Ilyushin Finance aircraft leasing company said five aircraft would be built in 2009, 18 in 2010, and 36 in 2011. It also said 50 aircraft would be built annually from 2013 onwards. Ilyushin Finance has signed a contract with the United Aircraft Corporation to buy 34 An-148's in 2008-10 and another 30 in 2011-12, worth a total of 40 billion rubles ($1.6 billion). In its basic modification, the An-148 is designed to carry 70-90 passengers up to 5,000 kilometers. It costs an estimated $20 million to produce, which is cheaper than Sukhoi's SuperJet-100 (around $28 million).

As of late 2008, the volume of solid orders for the aircraft until 2012, which may appear on the market already before the end of the year, was estimated at more than 50 machines. Among the customers were SCC 'Russia', the group of companies AirUnion (Krasnoyarsk), the group of companies 'Volga-Dnepr', the airlines 'Polet' (Voronezh), and 'Muscovya' (Russia).