Voronezh aircraft production association (VASO) has delivered the first of ten ordered An-148-100Es to Polet Airlines today, UAC reports.

 

The documents on delivery of the aircraft with tail number RA-61709 have been signed by the lessor’s representatives («Sberbank Leasing»), the manufacturer’s ones - Voronezh aircraft production association and also the operator – Polet Airlines.

 

It is the first aircraft out of ten ordered ones delivered to the airline in accordance with leasing contract signed by Sberbank Leasing and Polet Airlines and also agreement of sale and purchase between Sberbank Leasing and VASO, signed in October 2010 with participation of Voronezh Region’s government. The funding of this deal is provided by Sberbank, the first credit line for Sberbank Leasing in the network of it is 1,4 billion rubles.

 

The ceremony has been attended by the Chairman of the Central Chernozemic bank of Sberbank, Alexander Solovyev, CEO of Polet Airlines, Anatoly Karpov, CEO of VASO, Vitaly Zubarev, vice-president of Sberbank-Leasing, Roman Strukov, CEO of UAC-Antonov, Yuri Grudinin, Deputy General designer of Antonov (Ukraine), Viktor Kazurov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Motor Sich (Ukraine), Vladimir Shirkov, Deputy-Governor of Voronezh region – the first chairman of the Voronezh Region government, Alexander Gusev, representatives of Ministry of Industry and Trade, UAC and others.

 

According to CEO of Polet Airlines, Anatoly Karpov, “the aircraft’s technical specifications will allow the airline to provide services from the regions of Central Russia to regional centers of Ural and Siberia, and also open new destinations to Egypt, Spain, Italy, UAE, Israel, etc. ". The first passenger flight of An-148 will take place in August$ the plane will depart to St. Petersburg.

 

As noted by CEO of Sberbank Leasing, Dmitry Zotov, “the contract on An-148 reflects the leasing company’s guideline on strengthening the country’s aircraft industry as one of the vector directions for development of Russia’s economy».

 

According to CEO of UAC-Antonov, Yuri Grudinin, An-148’s yield of serial production is one of the main project’s objectives faced by Russia-Ukraine enterprise, taking into account the demand of native airlines on regional aircraft.

 

As noted by the CEO of VASO, Vitaly Zubarev, the delivery of the first An-148-100E aircraft to Polet Airlines is just the first step in strategic partnership between VASO, Polet and Sberbank Leasing. The delivered jet is the ninth aircraft, manufactured by Voronezh enterprise and it will be the first aircraft of this type in Polet’s fleet.

 

The flight testing of the second An-148-100E in Polet Airlines’ livery is undergoing now at VASO’s site. It is planned that the aircraft will be delivered to Polet in August 2011. The fourth Il-96-400T intended for the company’s cargo division is being assembled at the enterprise at the moment too.