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Kharkov Increases the Tempo for
Regional Market
While meeting slow but steady demand for its main product—the Antonov An-140 twin turboprop—Ukraine's Kharkov State Aircraft Manufacturing Co. is vigorously promoting its An-72/74 twin-jets, as well as the brand-new An-148 regional jet. And though market conditions overshadow its ambitious plans, the manufacturer is facing up to the challenge, gradually penetrating the markets of neighboring countries.
Here at Farnborough Kharkov is showing statically and in the flying display the extended-range An-140-100 and An-74TK-200 STOL passenger/freight transport.
The 52-seat high-winged An-140 turboprop, powered by two 2,466 shp Klimov TV3-117VMA-SBM1 engines and fitted with a range of Russian and Western equipment, was developed by the Antonov Design Bureau as a replacement for the obsolete An-24. Deliveries began in March 2002, and total seven to date, to four Ukranian carriers.
The latest An-140-100 model on display here has a wingspan one meter longer than the original An-140's, additional fuel tanks, and higher maximum take-off weight, Kharkov general director Pavel Naumenko told Show News. The first -100 was delivered in April to the Ukrainian carrier Ilyich-Avia, and is now the standard production model.
An-140-100 sells for €6.9 million ($8.5 million), which Russian carriers have found too expensive, calling for state-backed leasing and after-sales support programs, but so far only Ukraine has responded, so no An-140s have been sold in Russia.
"It is very important for us to penetrate Russia, which has a huge fleet of obsolete An-24 turboprops," notes Naumenko. To meet possible demand from Russian carriers and minimize taxes, as well as easing the workload at its main facilities in Ukraine, Kharkov has joined forces with the Avaicor plant in Russian city of Samara to assemble the aircraft there.
The average annual production rate for the Kharkov plant is 12 aircraft, though in Soviet era up to 70 Tupolev Tu-134 jetliners were built there each year. The production cycle for An-140 is 18 months, but thanks to some backlog Kharkov can presently offer delivery within seven months.
With Russia still to be conquered, marketing efforts in other former Soviet countries and neighboring Iran are the focus of attention. In 1996 agreement was reached with Iran for local assembly of the An-140 by HESA, using kits supplied by Antonov. Two Iranian-assembled An-140s are already operating on charter routes in Iran, and two more will soon be rolled-out from the HESA plant at Esfahan. HESA has contracted to produce 24 aircraft through 2005.
This year several former Soviet countries showed interest in the An-140, cautiously placing small firm orders. Two weeks before Farnborough state-owned Azerbaijan Hava Yollari announced that it will take four An-140-100s, while Kazakhstan ordered An-140s in July. Reportedly, the Syrian government is on the brink of ordering the Ukrainian turboprop, for which Libya placed a five-ship order last year.
The An-140 is not FAA- or JAA-certified, but it could be if demand is there, Naumenko said. Certification should be facilitated by the fact that the aircraft was designed to Russian AP-25 requirements, equivalent to the FAA's FAR Pt 25.
In addition to the An-140, Kharkov is a risk-sharing partner in the joint Ukrainian-Russian effort to develop the 80-seat Antonov An-148 regional twin-jet, whose first flight is scheduled for next month. Kharkov recently delivered the cockpit, fuselage, centre-section, wing and engine pods for the first of two flying prototypes to the final assembly line in Ukraine. Expected price tag for An-148 is €12.96 to €14.6 million ($16 to $18 million).
—Artem Fetisov
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