The developer of the An-148 Antonov aircraft has sent all the documentation related to the development of the transport modification of the airplane (the An-148T) to the leadership of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC). The future airliner may be assembled by the Voronezh aircraft plant, which currently produces An-148 aircraft. Abireg reported this, citing Sergey Gavrilov, a member of the Russian State Duma from the Voronezh region.
According to Gavrilov, the OKB Ilyushin aircraft design bureau will likely develop the transport aircraft. The site for assembly of the new model will be chosen later.
The Voronezh aircraft plant is currently preparing to resume the development of Il-112 light military transport aircraft for the Defense Ministry. This will be the second attempt by the Ministry of Defense to implement this project at the Voronezh aircraft plant. Prototypes of the aircraft were previously made at the plant, but it became known in mid-2010 that the Ministry of Defense had decided to suspend the assembly of the prototypes. According to experts, the chances of launching this project and mass production of the aircraft are currently small.
According to Gavrilov, the production facilities at the Voronezh aircraft plant will be much more effectively used for manufacture of the cargo modification of the An-148 aircraft. The first customer for it could also be the Ministry of Defense, which will ensure certain advantages regarding its assembly. The capacity of the market is currently up to 150 aircraft. If a decision is made in favor of the Voronezh aircraft plant, the first aircraft will be delivered to the customer in 2017 and serial production will begin in 2020.
As reported, in addition to the Voronezh aircraft plant, the Antonov state enterprise performs serial assembly of An-148 aircraft at its factory in Kiev. However, the elongated passenger version of the aircraft (the AN-158) is assembled only in the Ukrainian capital.
Production in Russia is organized in cooperation with Antonov. According to the Ukrainian company, the share of Russian companies in the An-148 is larger: 74% of the materials, 52% of the equipment, and 66% of the engines. Thus, 69% of the price of the aircraft (meaning 69% of the revenue from its production) is accounted for by the Russian Federation. The cost of Ukrainian components is about 31% of the price of the aircraft and about 5% goes to Antonov as copyright royalty.
Ukraine is expected to earn about USD 618 million from An-148 aircraft in eight years. A single An-148 airplane costs USD 23.5 million. At least, Ilyushin Finance bought the aircraft for the Angara airline company at this price.
