The Antonov An-158 large regional jet is expected to have completed all necessary flights in frame of its type certification program by the end of this year and win the certification early next year.

At the end of November Antonov general designer Dmitry Kiva said that less than twenty flights were still to be performed before the flight test program is complete. He said the remaining flights will be carried out during December. In late December Antonov intends to complete all of the required proving documentation and hand it over to the certification authorities.

The An-158 is a stretched version of the earlier (2007) certified An-148 regional jets. In all-economy configuration the An-158 seats 99 passengers compared to 75 in the An-148. In typical two-class layout the An-158 seats 82 passengers, including eight in business class, compared to 68 (60 economy and eight business) for An-148.

As of today, six Russian-built An-148s are in service with GTK Rossiya (sixth handed over in late November), and two Ukraine-built flies with AeroSvit. A grant total of orders for the An-148/158 family has exceeded one hundred units. Next years deliveries are expected to Government of Myanmar, GTK Rossiya and Polet, while some slots are intentionally hold for “a major Russian carrier”.