The Aviation Industry of the CIS countries
Paul Duffy - Regional Editor of ATW Media Group, Correspondent for Russia and the CIS
 Eleven years after the end of the Soviet Union, its once- mighty aviation industry is in a crisis that is largely ignored and may well be terminal.
A few sectors remain strong – particularly the industry working with Sukhoi’s excellent Su-27 family, but most have little results and little there is little evidence of any real prospects.
The crisis is one of leadership. In Soviet days, the aviation industry was part of the military industrial complex, the strongest sector of Soviet industry and manufacturing, and a priority beneficiary of national funding. Employment figures were classified, but over two million are believed to have worked in the aviation industry. This has dropped by perhaps eighty percent, and few of those working today are under their mid- forties.
Today, military budgets are low, and there is little funding available to finance production of civil aircraft. For aircraft sales, Russian banks have not yet looked seriously at providing funding to the country’s airlines, and a leasing industry is only in its infancy.
The Soviet Union had nine (major) aviation design bureaus and twenty- three production factories, plus a large number of others designing and manufacturing systems and components for the major producers. All except one aircraft design bureau (Antonov) were located in Russia, while only three factories were not in Russia.
The Ministry of the Aviation Industry did not survive the Soviet demise. Since then, its responsibilities have shifted frequently from one government department to another, until in 1999 they were landed on the unwilling RAKA – the Russian Aerospace Agency. The RAKA was doing quite a good job in developing international partnerships for space projects- for example with Boeing, Kvernaer and the Ukraine on the Sea Launch programme, and with NASA on the International Space Station. But it had little interest in aviation, and has not provided the leadership, funding or focus to achieve anything in its supposedly “temporary” responsibility for the industry.
Apart from that, Russia’s industry has not yet adapted to the changed market conditions. It boasts that its prices are much lower than those of its international rivals, but is only beginning to realise that what it offers is also different.
For example, an airline buying (or leasing) an aircraft from Airbus or Boeing rightly expects an excellent support package to be included, comprising finance, crew and technical training and product support in terms of availability of spares and components. The lower price of Russian aircraft have not until now included any of these elements. At a meeting of Russia’s Minister of Transport, major airlines and the RAKA held near Moscow in August, there was strong, sustained criticism of the industry for failing to provide the tools to allow the airlines to operate the aircraft to their capacity.
And the unwillingness of, for example, Ilyushin to provide updates to its aircraft to meet changing international standards, such as the ICAO Annex 16, Chapter lll noise regulations has resulted in its aircraft being excluded from Europe and other regions of the world, and has thus substantially reduced their ability to earn money for operators.
Some of the manufacturers are beginning to hear what customers are saying, and it is to be hoped that they will take the time and trouble to understand and counteract their failings. One factor needing attention is that the industry, formerly more or less united in Soviet times, now has each of its constituent members trying to get every piece of available work and money, and with little cohesion for the industry as a whole. A united industry is required, with one or several units, to give any possibility for long- term recovery and survival. These units could, for example, include Commercial aircraft, Military aircraft, and Helicopters. Unless reality comes about in the near future, it is unlikely that Russia will ever develop anew large, commercial aircraft. If it survives at all, the industry will merely feed the needs of the other world major producers.
Air International now takes a close look at the industry.
Ilyushin:
A decade ago, Ilyushin saw itself as the industry leader, the specialist in long- range commercial airliners and large freighters. It has not achieved very much in the decade – the stretched versions of its 300 seat Il-96, the M (passenger) and the T (cargo) have flown, but last year their Pratt and Whitney PW2037s were removed anf returned to the United States. Now the prototype M has been refitted with less powerful, Russian made PS-90A engines, and this is the first Il-96-400. Aeroflot has backed out of its commitment to take 17 Ms and 3Ts, citing the failure of VASO, the Voronezh production factory and Ilyushin to deliver as threatening the airline with the loss of its customer base.
With one Il-96-300 delivered in 1996, and another in 1999, VASO’s problems stem from the failure of the deal with the US Export- Import bank to provide the agreed loan of $1.5 billion for the manufacture of the Aeroflot order.
VASO is now surviving by overhauling Il-86s and Il-96s on its production line. It has been working on the completion of a second Il-96-300 for Russia’s President, but its delivery date seems to stretch out.
A new leasing company, Ilyushin Finance (IFC), has now secured some governmental finance and some commercial loans, and is willing to provide finance for an order for 10 Il-96-400 cargo airliners for a Moscow- based airline, Atlant- Soyuz. IFC has been critical of the cooperation it has received from VASO, and recently the government has transferred part ownership of VASO to IFC.
VASO is part of the “Ilyushin Aviation Complex”. A union of the design bureau and two production factories supposed to build a partnership for the benefit of all. The second factory is TAPO – the Tashkent Aviation Production Association. One complication here is that this factory is not in Russia, it is in the Uzbekistan republic’s capital. It manufactures the Il-76 freighter, an aircraft with over 900 manufactured up to the mid 1990s, and one of the principal cargo models on the world market until the Chapter lll rules restricted its markets. Originally designed for military duties, if loaded within its design limits, it only marginally exceeds the noise levels permitted under Chapter lll. It would not have been very difficult to give it adequate margins had Ilyushin been willing to either remove the military required to support heavy military tanks, the glass nose, the three tonne turret installed (but covered over in civil examples) and other equipment, and thus reduce the aircraft’s weight. Alternately, it could have offered the hush kits developed by the engine manufacturers to reduce noise. Instead, it told customers that they should update their fleets by buying new Il-76MF/TFs, or cargo Il-96-400s. With no finance available to purchaser new aircraft, and with cargo revenues inadequate to fund them even if the finance was there, this did not happen.
The stretched Il-76MF, the military version, achieved certification in 2002, but customers have not yet appeared. The civil Il-76TF is not yet certificated, although Russia’s East Line air company has expressed an intention to order two.
Both of these are fitted with the Stage lll PS-90A engine, and feature a five- metre stretch on the earlier Il-76 versions.
TAPO is also the producer of Ilyushin’s new regional airliner, the 64 seater Il-114 twin turboprop. Although in service with Uzbekistan Havo Yullari since 1994, the type has only recently found its next customer, Vyborg Airlines, based at Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg in Russia. One of the major problems here has been the 44% taxes charged on the import of aircraft into Russia, even from other cIS countries. This has made both the Il-76 and the 114 relatively expensive for the country’s airlines, and militates against any fleet replacements coming through importation.
Ilyushin’s first new project in a decade likely to reach production is the Il-214. Its first development should be as a military transport, with later versions in the 100- seat regional airliner, cargo transport and utility roles. The programme has begun as a partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) of India, although recently HAL has signed agreements for cooperation with IAPO, the Irkutsk Aviation Production Association, to work on its manufacture. It is intended to replace the An-32 in Indian service. In November 2002, it became known that IAPO is a partner of Basic Elements, a subsidiary of Siberian Aluminium, in bidding to take over the Fairchild Dornier plant in Germany,
Ilyushin has also offered small regional turboprops, the Il-100 and –112. The –100 is intended as a twelve passenger An-2 replacement to be built in partnership with MAPO MiG, while the –112 is a 40 passenger regional liner to be built at VASO. There have been no reports of progress on either design recently.
MAPO MiG:
The MiG–29 high performance fighter has found customers in many counties, and provided the strength for its manufacturer, MAPO (The Moscow Aviation Production Association) to take over the MiG design bureau. Later, sales proved difficult to secure, so the organisation asked the (future) President to be given the Tupolev Tu-334 regional jet programme. As a result of this, the first production example was transferred, about 60% complete, by road from Tavia, the Taganrog Aviation factory, to a MAPO factory in Moscow about three years ago. A shortage of money has resulted in little progress since then, with the Tupolev- built prototype now about half way through its flight test programme begun in 1998, and needing a production aircraft to join it before certification can be completed. The funding promised by MAPO has not arrived, although this year, RAKA has provided some $15m to complete a production example from another factory, and for some flight tests.
The second MAPO factory, in Lukhovitsi, near Moscow, produces MiG 29s, now mostly for export when contracts and funds arrive, and the Il-103, a single engine four/ five seat light aircraft. About twenty of these are in service in Russia, another six have been delivered to Peru as basic trainers, and recently, South Korea has ordered 24 and optioned 19 for delivery starting in 2003.
A small number of MiG31s remain to be completed at the Sokol factory in Nizhne Novgorod, while the single MiG I.42 remains a test example, with little evidence of any production prospects.
The MiG AT (advanced trainer) could be a winner if adequate funding becomes available. The Russian Air Force, or VVS, has ordered two, but has little funds for more. This aircraft has an advanced avionics package that allows it to train pilots in a variety of roles, ranging from advanced fighters through to transport pilots, and it is also offered with French partners and French engine and avionics.
AVPK Sukhoi:
The strongest bureau today is that of Sukhoi. Supported by continuing valuable export sales of the Su-27 family, an aircraft regarded as comparable to the F-16, Sukhoi has built a group of aviation related factories and design bureaus in one of the few rational developments in the industry in the past decade.
Its factories include KnAAPO (in Komsomolsk-na- Amur}, NAPO (Novosibirsk) and IAPO (Irkutsk), and it has also taken the Beriev and Kamov design bureaus into the AVPK –Aviation military Industrial Complex.
Sukhoi itself is continuing the development of the Su-27 family. The range should continue to find markets for the next decade, particularly if development work, modernisation and new avionics are added. But the Group realises that Russian military budgets are likely to be restrained for the foreseeable future, and its management has taken the unusual step (for Russia) of creating a new subsidiary called Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) to broaden its base. Its first aircraft, the twin boomed Su-80, is a 30- passenger regional twin turboprop, is also offered as 3.3 tonne cargo transport, or in a Paradrop role. It made its first flight in September 2001, and is nearing the completion of its certification trials. Production has been assigned to the Su-27 factory at KnAAPO, where Beriev’s six sear amphibian, the twin piston Be-103, and a single engine version powered by an engine developed by AutoVAZ, the Russian car manufacturer, are also been manufactured.
IAPO, in Irkutsk, is the one element of AVPK Sukhoi that may break away from the group. It manufactures the Su-30 and has found markets in South East Asia and China for these. It also produces the twin jet amphibious Beriev Be-200, a scaled down A-40 which is attracting considerable interest as a firefighter. It has secured an order for 7 from Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, and EADS is currently examining the possibility of selling it on the international market. IAPO has also reached agreement with India’s Hindustan Aerospace for cooperation on the Ilyushin Il-214. It has recently announced that it is looking at the possibility of purchasing two other factories in order to separate its civil and military programmes, and thus maintain adequate security for its military business.
NAPO currently produces only the Antonov An-38 regional turboprop. Because the first examples were fitted with Allied Signal engines, only a small number found customers in Russia, mostly with Vostok Avia. Three are now operating on Malaysia, two with an airline and one with the Navy. A new version is now being offered with Russian engines, and NAPO hopes this will provide some new orders. NAPO is also likely to be the manufacturer of SCAC’s RRJ- the Russian Regional Jet, a joint Boeing- Sukhoi programme now in the final evaluation stages, with engine choice expected before the end of 2002, and go ahead also expected by then. Looking quite similar to a scaled- down 737, the RRJ will offer 60, 75 and 95 sets for a range of up to 4,800 kilometres. The engine will be either SNECMA’s new SM146, or Pratt and Whitney (Canada)’s new PW800.
Sukhoi’s ground attack Su-25 is manufactured in Ulan Ude. It remains in substantial service with the VVS. Production continues, and the factory is setting up a production line for the Su-39, essentially a single seat version with improved avionics, and now ordered by the VVS under the designation Su-25TM.
Beriev’s A40 Albatross, with two prototypes flying, has been around for more than a decade. At last, it seems that Beriev’s persistence has paid off, as at the Gelendzhik Exhibition in September, Russia’s Navy announced it intends to place an order for the type, and is in consultation with the design bureau.
The third design bureau that is part of AVPK Sukhoi is the Kamov Helicopter design bureau. Its Ka –26 is in widespread civil and military service in the cIS countries, and a modernised version, the Ka-226 has been ordered by both Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations and by Gazpromavia, the air company that provides air services for Russia’s gas industry.
Its Ka-50 Black Shark is built in Arseniev, and is becoming the standard Russian attack helicopter. Its Ka-62, like the –226 built in Kumertau, is modern executive helicopter also suited for a range of military roles.
The heavy- lift Ka-32, certificated in both Canada and Switzerland, remains in production.
Tupolev:
Russia’s longest established design bureau celebrated its 80th anniversary on October 22nd. Although it has designed the two most promising Russian commercial aircraft, it has found great difficulty in financing the development of its new aircraft.
Aviastar, the Ulyanovsk Aircraft Production Factory where the Tu-204 and the Antonov An-124 outsize freighter are manufactured, is now part of Tupolev, and at its 80th birthday, it announced that the government is planning to add KAPO, the Kazan Aircraft Production Association, the manufacturer of the Tu-214, Tu-160 and Tu-22M, to the group. Tavia, the Taganrog factory that produced the Tu-142 maritime patrol version of the Tu-95 Bear, will also join, although it has not produced any aircraft since the first Tu-334 was taken from it and transferred to MAPO MiG.
The Tu-204 has, so far, sold slowly, mainly due to the financing problems in Russia. It has, however, attracted substantial support from Sirocco Aerospace International. The Anglo- Egyptian company has already invested some $180m into the programme, and is committed to a further $280m over the next two years. It is now a 25% (less one share) holder of both Tupolev and Aviastar stock. With six aircraft delivered through Sirocco to Air Cairo – three on charter to TNT – it has worked to develop an international level of support for the 204-120, for which it holds world-marketing rights. Next year, it expects to deliver 5 aircraft to China. Early next year, one 204-120, fitted with the first English language cockpit, will go to Europe’s Joint Airworthiness Authorities for JAR25 certification trials. Certification is expected by late 2003, making it the first Russian airliner to receive full western certification. The Tu-234, otherwise known as the 204-300, a smaller fuselage version with long range, is expected to make its first flight in mid- 2003, and Tupolev says that a cryogenic- fueeled version, the 204-400 is making slow progress due to low funding, but will fly in “three or four years”, according to Igor Shevchuk, Tupolev’s General Designer.
The regional 100- seat Tu-334 has the second priority (after the –294) in Tupolev. Certification requires a production aircraft to join the test programme, and Tupolev is working closely with the Aviant production factory in Kiev, where the first airframe has been completed but a lack of money has delayed engines and components.
In September, Russia’s Minister of Transport, Sergei Frank, called for design bureaus to submit tender proposals for “200 aircraft to replace the country’s aging regional fleet”, requiring a size of 70 to 80 seats. Tupolev will respond to this by offering the 52 seat Tu-324 regional jet, whose prototype is under construction in KAPO, and a larger version, the Tu-414 for 75 passengers. (Sukhoi will offer the RRJ, Ilyushin the Il-214 and 114, and Antonov the An-140 and –148).
Tupolevs third priority is the Tu-330, a high winged twin-engine military transport.
“Once we have completed detailed 334 drawings now under way, we will attend to this,” says Shevchuk. ”The VVS has at last confirmed its interest, and has placed an initial order.”
Modernisation of the Tu-22M Backfire and the Tu-160 Blackjack has also been offered to the VVS, and are under consideration.
Tupolev has made some considerable progress with its Tu-154, currently the backbone of most Russian and CIS airlines. When the aircraft became popular with airlines in Iran, the 154 Chief Designer, Alexander Shengardt, heard what the airlines wanted, and worked with the Russian leasors and a major overhaul facility to provide the training and technical support needed to keep the aircraft in operation. At first, crews were mostly from Russia and the CIS. Now, about half are Iranian, and there are about thirty aircraft flying with Iranian airlines. He also worked with the engine manufacturers, Rybinsk Motors (now renamed NPO Saturn) to install noise abatement materials, which leave any aircraft so modified below the Stage lll noise limits. As other equipment changes, such as TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System), RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Measures) etc., became requirements, his team carried out the work necessary to ensure compliance. Thus, the 154, particularly the M model, remains the first choice for the region’s airlines. As they started to come out of service n other countries, they were snapped up by CIS airlines. Unfortunately, now that passenger traffic has begun to grow again in Russia, there are few 154Ms remaining to be purchased from outside the region.
Aviakor, Samara:
Left out of the Tupolev group is the Aviakor factory at Samara, the production factory of the Tu-154, and with about seven aircraft still in various stages of assembly. The factory has been bought over by a subsidiary of Siberian Aluminium called “Base Element”, and is currently negotiating to purchase the Fairchild Dornier facilities. It has indicated that, if successful, it will continue construction of at least the 728 in Germany, but it may well use the opportunity to upgrade its workforce and to modernise its Samara factory. It is also setting up a production line for the Antonov An-140 regional turboprop, working with the Kharkov factory to cater for the Russian market, and will manufacture wing sets for the Tu-334. It was intended to be the producer of a stretched –334, the –200, intended for 120 passengers, but it is not clear whether this is still active.
Base Elements has teamed with IAPO to bid for Fairchild Dornier’s assets following its bankruptcy. It intends ti produce the 328 and 728 initially in Germany, and transfer technology gradually to Russia.
Yakovlev:
The Yakovlev Design Bureau has also fallen on hard times. Its only new aircraft is the Yak-140 trainer, and this has secured an order for just two examples for VVS evaluation. It has paid the Sokol factory in Nizhne Novgorod for the manufacture of four aircraft, including one for static test, and has been actively marketing the aircraft in cIS countries.
Its two associated factories are in Saratov and Smolensk. Smolensk still makes small numbers of the Yak 18T, a piston engine basic trainer and tourer for 4 people, and an updated version, the SM52, which are in widespread service.
Saratov has continued to build the 120- seat Yak 42, completing about one per year over the last five years, mostly for Gazpromavia. In September, it announced an update of the aircraft to compete with the delayed Tu-334, adding range and capacity to improved engines, and hoping to gain new customers for the type.
Mil Helicopter Design Bureau:
With huge numbers of Mil helicopters in service in many countries, it seems strange that the bureau should have economic problems just as much as other bureaus.
Its Mi-26 is the world’s largest helicopter, and is capable of carrying 20 tonne loads – equivalent to that of the Lockheed C-130. Although popular with oil and power companies, the helicopter is only certificated in the CIS, and thus has not penetrated international markets despite its use on United Nations’ duties. This seems a missed opportunity. It is built by Rosvertol in Rostov- on- Don. The type it replaced, the Mi-6, was grounded in October by the Minister of transport as, following an accident, Mil was unable to effect remedies required to avoid future incidents as the bureau no longer retained the documentation necessary to prolong its operational life.
Its ubiquitous Mi-8, modernised to the Mi-17, (any suffix, such as the 1 in 171, indicates equipment options. So far, these are up to the –175), continues in service in huge numbers, with over 1100 in service in Russia air companies alone. Although larger than a puma, it is used in roles ranging from those of the Bell 206 to the Sikorski S-61. It is built in KVZ, the Kazan Helicopter Factory, and in Ulan Ude. The Ulan Ude factory has recently delivered 30 to Iran, and a second irder, understood to be for 25, has now been placed.
To ensure continued development of the Mi-8/17, KVZ has created its own design bureau. In turn, this has developed Russia’s first light helicopter to enter production. Called the Ansat, certification is expected in the next few months, and five examples took part in the certification trials. It is powered by two Pratt and Whitney (Canada) PW207K turboshaft engines, and should complete certification by mid- 2003, with production starting early in 2003.
The Mi-24 attack helicopter is built in Arseniev, and is offered for export as the Mi-35M. It now has version for night operations, and a small business helicopter. The Mi-34, with only about five built so far, is fitted with a piston engine. Some work has been done to install a turbine, but progress has been limited by a shortage of funds.
Mil and Eurocopter, together with KVZ, have set up a company called Euromil to develop a medium class new helicopter, the Mi-38. It will be powered by 2 PW127TS turboshafts, each generating 2,500shp.
KVZ has set up a training centre for xrews and technical staff in Kazan, and a supply line for spares and technical support.
Myasishchev:
Never regarded as a major design bureau, Myasishchev’s role was that of an aeronautical research bureau, developing concepts to the point where other bureaus could benefit. It worked, and works, closely with TsAGI, the Central Aero- and Hydrodynamics Institute. Today, its M101 Gzhel, a single turboprop business class aircraft, is completing its operational certification trials, and should be on the market early next year. Eleven examples have been completed at the Sokol factory in Nizhne Novgorod.
The M-55 high altitude research aircraft has been built in small numbers at Smolensk – just 5 have been completed. Currently, Myasishchev are constructing a number of S-21 modules, which will be fitted onto M-55s for “space tourist” launches. This RAKA contract calls for the capability for a pilot and two tourists to be launched from a M-55 at an altitude of 16,000m/ 52,000 feet, and to climb to 101,00 feet before descending back to earth. It should be operational in late 2003.
Myasishchev is now working on the detailed design of the M 60 transport with industry in Kazakhstan and Belarus. A passenger family has been offered in response to the Minister Of Transport tender for a new generation of regional airliners.
An export version, the M 60-20 is being prepared in partnership with an Austrian company.
The bureau is also working with India’s National Aeronautical Laboratory to ready the first Myasishchev Duet, a nine passenger amphibian powered by a tail- mounted single turboprop, for first flight and possible Indian production.
The Ukraine:
Surprisingly, despite Russia’s economic strength relative to that of the Ukraine, the industry has fared much better in the smaller country. This is due to a number of factors:
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Leadership: the industry leaders did not wait around for the government to come to their rescue. Instead, they took the resources they had, and pit them to work. Thus, Antonov asked Mikhail Gorbachev before the Soviet collapse to be allowed to use the aircraft they controlled to earn money in order to develop new aircraft without requiring substantial budgetary funding. He granted the request, and when the Ukraine became independent, this was continued by the new government.
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Similarly, the Progress Engine Design Bureau, used its own resources to develop several engines, working closely with the Motor Sich production factory, it has updated its existing range and added several new engines and adaptations.
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The two aviation production factories in the country, Aviant in Kiev, and the Kharkov State Aviation Production Factory, continued to manufacture aircraft despite the lack of sales, and then leased them out on the world market, mainly in Africa and Latin America, and thus earned enough money to survive.
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The Ukrainian president came from an industrial background, and government policy has reflected fiscal benefits in order to develop employment.
As a result, in October the General Director of Motor Sich suggested at a meeting of the Presidents of Russia and the Ukraine that they should look at the possibility of forming “an Airbus- like” structure for the aviation industries of the two countries. This suggestion will form the principal item on the agenda of their next meeting. (Scheduled for November 7th in Moscow).
Antonov:
Because of these circumstances, Antonov, the only non- Russian design bureau, has developed and flown as many new types as all the Russian aircraft (excluding helicopters) design bureaus combined. It used the fleet on An-124 Ruslans in partnership with the UK’s Air Foyle, and its other aircraft, including some An-12s, An-26s, and a single example of the An-74, to generate money to pay its staff and create new aircraft.
By now, it has certificated the An-3, a turboprop update of the venerable An-2, which is built, or converted from existing An-2s, in Omsk, a Russian city in west Siberia.
It updated and stretched the An-28, a seventeen- passenger twin turboprop, into the An-38, a twenty- six passenger aircraft with two Allied Signal TPE331 turboprops. This is built at NAPO in Novosibirsk.
It developed the An-70, a four- turboprop freighter intended initially for military markets, and later for civil operations. This is effectively a replacement for the An-12, a type now over forty years in service, and with the youngest examples at least thirty years old. (This type was also built in China as the Y-7, and Antonov will announce plans to work with Chinese industry on an update shortly. The aircraft currently has just a prototype flying, and this has completed most of the certification test. A production example is nearing completion at Aviant, where those ordered by the Ukraine Air Force will be built. A second production line is being set up at Omsk for aircraft ordered by the Russian VVS. The German government examined the An-70 very closely, and wanted to order it for the Luftwaafe, but its European partners.
It has designed, built and certificated a replacement for the An-24 family, in service since 1960. The An-140 looks somewhat similar, but it is a totally new design availing of up to date materials, systems and concepts, still well capable of facing the infrastructural shortcomings of the region’s airports. The first aircraft entered service with Odessa Airlines in March this year, while the second and third are now serving with Aeromist, an airline based in Kharkov, the city where the type is manufactured. Aviakor in Samara has a line working to meet Russian orders, and a third line has been established in Iran to manufacture the seventy ordered by that country, where it is called the Iran- 140. The first two production Iran-140s will be delivered to Kish Air early in 2003, and HESA, the Iranian manufacturer, has now entered a marketing agreement with the Kharkov and Samara factories for the aircraft.
Kharkov also manufactures the An-74 family, and in September the latest version, the An-74TK-300, a regional jet for 62 passengers, received its certification. The An-74 has served mostly as a freighter, with some executive versions used by companies in the oil and gas industries to bring business men to their sites and oilfields, while a few are used on patrol duties- mostly the earlier An-72 versions. Russia’s major airline, Aeroflot, has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for 25 examples to serve regional spoke routes to feed its hub services, but has specified a time scale for delivery. Antonov and the Kharkov factory are confident that these dates will be met.
A second line has been set up in Omsk, using many components sourced from Kharkov.
Kharkov is also the factory chosen to lead the development of the new An-148 regional jet. First flight is expected at the end of 2003, and certification by late 2004. The aircraft is being offered in two sizes –70 to 80 seats (depending on sear pitch), and 90 –100 seats. Earlier, Antonov described it as the An-74-400, but a wider fuselage chord, and substantial redesign to reduce weight, has resulted in it being retitled the An-148. It will also be built at Ulan Ude, and may also be built in China. With Antonov’s track record in the past decade, these targets should be attained.
[ATW Media Group] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
