OREANDA-NEWS. On 23 June 2009 was announced, that at the Paris Le Bourget Air Show, Mr. A.Rubtsov, Director General of Ilyushin Finince Co. JSC, Mr. A.Fedorov, President of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) JSC, and Mr. E.Bochurin, Director General of Atlant-Soyuz Airlines JSC (Russia), signed the Memorandum of Understanding on delivery of 30 AN-148 regional passenger jets and 15 Tu-204SM medium-range passenger airplanes under finance leasing conditions during 10 years. Mr. D.Kiva, General Designer of ANTONOV ASTC, and Mr. A.Boguslayev, President of Motor Sich JSC.

According to the signed document, the parties undertook to conclude the leasing contract until September 1, 2009. AN-148 aircraft will be delivered to the customer during 3 years from 2010. In 2010 the airlines intend to receive first 5 AN-148s of basic version. At present the company is considering the air routes for these airplanes. After that deliveries of 99-seat AN-158 to Atlant-Soyuz will be started.

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The AN-148 program is realized in wide international cooperation. More than 240 enterprises from 14 countries of the world are involved in the project. The aircraft is constructed in Ukraine (at SE Kyiv Aviation Plant AVIANT) and in Russia (at Voronezh Aircraft Building JSC).

In June 2009, the aircraft started regular flights on regional air routes of Ukraine.

Until June 2009, orders for the airplane included more than 50 firm orders and 80 options. Airlines of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan have signed contracts for delivery of these aircraft. The AN-148, developed with participation of its potential customers, completely meets their idea of a modern passenger aircraft, current and perspective norms and requirements of ICAO and Eurocontrol. It can fly to regions with heavy air traffic without any restrictions.

The AN-148 can efficiently work under various climatic and weather conditions. In particular, during the tests the AN-148 proved itself to be reliably operated under hot climate conditions with ambient temperature of +40?C and under low (down to -52?C) temperatures. One of the AN-148’s advantages is its ability to work safely on a wide network of airdromes including poorly equipped, pebbled, unpaved, ice- and snow-covered runways.

ANTONOV ASTC is designing new airplanes based on the AN-148. One of them is the AN-158 intended to carry up to 99 passengers. The market demand in such aircraft till 2015 is estimated to be as many as 200 airplanes.

ANTONOV is also developing a series of high comfort airplanes designated as AN-168. They will be able to transport from 8 to 40 passengers over a distance of up to 7000 km. According to marketing estimations, 60 of such airplanes will be requested till 2015 and 120 ones – till 2025.