OREANDA-NEWS. On 04 June 2008 was announced, that on May 28, 2008, during ILA’2008 the international air show (Berlin, FRG), Dmytro Kiva, General Designer of ANTONOV ASTC, made a report at the First European Air Transport Congress. The Congress was conducted under the aegis of Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology of Germany. The members of Europarliament, leaders of the Ministry of Defense of Germany, airlines and industrial enterprises of European countries took part in its work.

Mr. D.S.Kiva told about the great experience of the ASTC in the development of transport aircraft. Among the modern programmes in this sphere he mentioned the further development of the AN-124-100 Ruslan heavy transport, completion of testing the AN-70 medium military-transport STOL aircraft, design of a new transport on the basis of AN-148.

According to the Congress participants, the volume of cargo transportations is growing all over the world. On average, every year the volume of cargoes transported by air grows by 6%, and even more in some countries. For instance, in Russia this index reaches 14%. Thereupon it was noted that during the nearest 10 years in order to satisfy the increased demand on transportations it will be necessary to purchase up to 900 new cargo aircraft of the following types: AN-124-100M-150, AN-70, Boeing C-17 and Airbus A400M.

Participants of the meeting highly appreciated the effective work of the alliance of ANTONOV Airlines and Volga Dnepr which performs transportations using the AN-124-100 Ruslans in the interests of military departments of 18 countries of the world within the SALIS (Strategic Airlift Interim Solution) programme. It was noted that nowadays no alternative to this aircraft exists. Taking into account the positive experience of the established cooperation, the delegates of the Congress expressed the opinion that AN-70 can be successfully used for air transportations as well. They familiarized with the modern status and development of the AN-70 programme.