Volga-Dnepr Airlines is to acquire five new AN-124-100M-150 freighter aircraft after signing a delivery agreement with the Aviastar-SP aviation plant as part of the AN-124-100 Production Recovery Project.

Deliveries of the new 150 tonnes capacity aircraft will begin in 2008.

“The AN-124-100 ‘Ruslan’ is a unique aircraft. It is in such high demand in the global air cargo market that we are doing our best to relaunch serial production of the aircraft at the Aviastar aviation plant in Ulyanovsk ,” said Alexey Isaikin, Aviastar-SP Chairman and President of Volga-Dnepr Group.

The AN-124-100М-150 is an operationally improved version of the AN-124 outsize and heavyweight cargo aircraft, capable of transporting single or multiple pieces of cargo weighing up to 150 tonnes as well as general cargo. Modification of the aircraft extends the AN-124’s freight capacity and involves the use of modernised on-board equipment. The new aircraft will also require fewer crew members, reducing from six currently to four.

Aviastar-SP is one of the largest civil aircraft factories in Russia and the CIS and specialises in building modern passenger and freighter aircraft such as the Tupolev ТU-204 and unique AN-124-100 Ruslan freighters. The factory is capable of producing some 50 aircraft a year.

The АN-124-100 is currently the world’s largest production freighter, unrivalled in the global aviation industry. It was designed by Antonov Design Bureau in the early 1980s and the prototype made its maiden flight in 1982. Over 500 enterprises in the then Soviet Union were involved in the production of the freighter. Serial production was launched at the Ulyanovsk-based Aviastar-SP factory and at the Aviant factory in Kiev , Ukraine . To date, 56 AN-124s have been manufactured, about half of which are currently in commercial operation.

The parties engaged in the AN-124 Production Recovery Project believe that resumed production of this aircraft type will revive the Russian aviation industry, significantly reinforce the leading positions of Russia and Ukraine in the global air cargo market, widen Russian-Ukrainian ties in terms of implementing large-scale industrial projects and create more opportunities for technological breakthroughs in civil aviation.

Resuming production of the AN-124-100 may, along with the Government-supported Quiet IL-76 Modernisation Project currently being implemented, become one of the most ambitious and promising tasks for the Russian aviation industry in the years to come.

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