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The Antonov An-148 (Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-148) is a regional jet aircraft designed by the Ukrainian Antonov Design Bureau and produced by Ukraine's Kiev Aviation Plant AVIANT. Antonov has also outsourced production to Russia's Voronezh Aircraft Production Association. Development of the plane was started in the 1990s, and the maiden flight took place on 17 December 2004. The plane completed its certification programme on 26 February 2007. The An-148 has a maximum range of 2,100–4,400 kilometers and is able to carry 68–99 passengers, depending on the configuration. The An-158 is a stretched fuselage version of the aircraft for 99 passengers.

An-148 / An-158
Antonov An-148 at Le Bourget airport, Paris Air Show 2007
Role	Airliner
Manufacturer	Kyiv "Aviant" State Aircraft Plant (Ukraine), Voronezh Aircraft Production Association (Russia)
Design group	Antonov
First flight	December 17, 2004
Introduction	June 2, 2009
Status	In production, in service
Primary users	Rossiya Airlines Ukraine International Airlines
Number built	24 (December 2012)
Program cost	US$ 400 million
Unit cost	US$18–24 million

Design and Development

The beginning of the An-148 project dates to the early 1990s, when the design work of the An-74-68 passenger aircraft was started at the Ukrainian Antonov Design Bureau. In 2001, the plane was renamed to An-148. The development team, headed by P.V. Balabuev, used the An-74TK-300 transport aircraft as a starting point. Its fuselage was extended and the new plane's wing design was created from scratch. The developers decided to use the Motor Sich D-436-148 engines.

The An-148 is manufactured by the Ukrainian Kiev Aviation Plant AVIANT and Russia's Voronezh Aircraft Production Association (VASO). Although numerous companies are involved in the project, at least 70% of the aircraft's hardware is made by Russian producers. Due to its technical parameters the An-148 has become popular on the regional passenger airliner market. The An-148's list price is about $24–30 million. The main problem with the project has been increasing the plane's sluggish production rate. The AVIANT plant in Kiev initially failed to respond to growing orders, leading to VASO's growing involvement in the plane's assembly.

In 2002, the production of the first 3 prototypes was begun at Kiev Aviation Plant AVIANT. On 17 November 2004, the first prototype completed it maiden flight. Second prototype joined the testing programme in April 2005. During the certification programme, the two prototypes performed about 600 flights in total. On 26 February 2007 the aircraft, its D-436-148 engine and the AI-450-МS auxiliary power unit were certified by the Interstate Aviation Committee of Russia (AR MAK) and the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine. On 28 June 2009, the first serially produced An-148, manufactured at Voronezh Aircraft Production Association in Voronezh took to the skies. In April 2005, the An-148, received its first order from Ilyushin Finance Co. (IFC) leasing company and the airline company Krasair signed a lease agreement for 10 aircraft with an option on 5 units valued at $270 million.

Other variants with Western-made engines with thrust of 6000–8000 kgf (such as the General Electric CF34 or Rolls-Royce BR700) are being considered.

Cockpit of AeroSvit An-148 (UR-NTA) just before the first commercial flight

 

Entrance door with stairs

 

The An-148 aircraft is a high-wing monoplane with two turbofan jet engines mounted in pods under the wing. This arrangement protects the engines and wing structure against damage from foreign objects (FOD). A built-in auto-diagnosis system, auxiliary power unit, high reliability, as well as the wing configuration allow the An-148 to be used at poorly equipped airfields. Modern flight and navigation equipment, multifunctional displays and a fly-by-wire system enable the An-148 aircraft to operate day and night, under Instrument flight rules (IFR) and Visual flight rules (VFR) weather conditions on high density air routes. The An-148 cockpit features five 15 cm by 20 cm (6" by 8") liquid crystal display (LCD) panels built by Russia’s Aviapribor and fly-by-wire flight controls. The main landing gear rotate into wells in the aircraft's belly, the legs being covered by partial doors. The sides of the tires are exposed to the air in flight like in the Boeing 737. Other design advantages include the high fuel-efficiency of the Motor Sich D-436-148 engines and entrance stairs that enable boarding and deboarding the plane without extra ground equipment.

The An-148-100 regional aircraft is the main model of the An-148. It seats 70 passengers at 34 inch pitch (864 mm) or up to 80 passengers at 762 mm (30 in) pitch in a one class 2+3 seating layout. The aircraft is also configurable in a multiple-class layout which can carry fewer passengers, typically with 4 abreast business class.

For Siberian operators, Antonov plans a model with a higher gross weight and additional fuel capacity in the center tank, extending the range with 75 passengers from 1,187 nautical mile (nmi) to 1,943 nmi. An “E” variant is also planned to offer a special 2,752-nmi-range, which would serve as a platform for the "E1", capable of for non-stop Moscow-Vladivostok (3,777 nm) services carrying 44 passengers.

Operational history

Rollout ceremony of the first Ukrainian-built serially produced An-148 at the Kiev Aviation Plant in December 2009

 

The first Russian-built An-148 at the MAKS 2009 airshow in Moscow

 

On 2 June 2009, the first An-148 entered commercial service at the Ukrainian carrier Aerosvit. The first passenger flight was from Kharkov to Kiev; the plane had the civilian registration UR-NTA. By November 2009, Aerosvit was operating the An-148 on the Kiev–Odessa and Simferopol–Lviv routes, performing two flights a day with the average flight time of 4–5 hours.

On 21 December 2009, the An-148 was put into service in Russia with Rossiya airline. The first passenger flight was FV135 from Pulkovo Airport in Sankt Petersburg to Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow. By 20 May 2010, Rossiya's An-148 fleet had accumulated a total of 915 flight hours and performed 710 landings. Rossiya complained that the aircraft experienced some reliability problems. There were some technical problems with the plane, and pilot training could not be ramped up fast enough, leading to pilot shortages. However, by 2011 the situation had clearly improved.

On 15 February 2010, the An-148 started international flights to Poland with the Aerosvit airline.

Variants

An-148 landing at Gostomel Airport Ukraine

 

Antonov An-148 at the Paris Air Show 2007

 

• An-148-100A – main version of the An-148. It has a passenger capacity of 75 in a one-class standard configuration or 68 in a two-class configuration and a range of 2,100 kilometres (1,300 mi);
• An-148-100Bc – extended range version up to 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi);
• An-148-100E – extended range version up to 4,400 kilometres (2,700 mi) and a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 43.7 tonnes;

An-158 at Farnborough Air Show in 2010

 

• An-158 – stretched fuselage version for 99 passengers in a one-class configuration and previously referred to as the An-148-200. Other changes include the installation of wingtip fences. The airplane successfully completed its first flight on 28 April 2010, with flight certification tests planned to be completed before the end of 2010; on 3 March 2011, it was given Russian certification.
• An-168 – business variant, seating between 8 and 40 passengers, with a range up to 7000 km;
• An-178 – cargo variant, with a payload capacity of 15 tons;

Specifications

Source

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-148