The global market for the Antonov An-148 regional jet is estimated at 350-400 units in the next twenty years, Aleksandr Rubtsov, general director of Ilyushin Finance Company (IFC) said.

He clarified that this estimation is made for the airplane’s baseline version An-148-100 and its variants, «A», «B» and «E». As of today, only An-148-100B is operational, and a few orders have been secured for the “E” variant. Rubtsov further said that IFC and United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) have already received orders and commitments for 180 An-148s.

The An-158 aircraft, effectively a stretched version of the An-148, seats 99 passengers in all-economy cabin instead of 75 for the An-148. This aircraft may win 200-250 orders, Rubtsov said.

Accordingly, the An-148 and An-158 together can generate 550-650 sales. The whole of the family, which also includes the An-168 or the Antonov Business Jet, the An-178 ramp freighter and other mutations of the basic airplane, may pretend for a total of one thousand orders.

So far, six An-148-100Bs have been assembled at VASO plant in Voronezh, Russia, and three in Kiev, Ukraine, but one of the Ukrainian airframes has been turned into An-158 development prototype.