Antonov An-148

The Antonov An-148 () is a regional jet designed and primarily built by the Ukrainian aerospace manufacturer Antonov of Ukraine. Between 2009 and 2018, the An-148 was also being produced on a second production line in Russia by Voronezh Aircraft Production Association; however, production of the type in Russia was discontinued as a consequence of the wider souring political relations between Ukraine and Russia. While the last Russian-built An-148 was completed in October 2018, Ukraine continued to both produce and develop the type.

Development of the aircraft was started in the 1990s, although the An-148 name was not associated to the project prior to 2001. On 17 December 2004, the prototype performed its maiden flight. The aircraft completed its certification programme on 26 February 2007. On 2 June 2009, the first An-148 entered commercial service with the Ukrainian carrier Aerosvit. The largest export customer for the type was the Russian Ministry of Defence, which ordered 15 Russian-produced An-148s. The An-148 has a maximum range of and is able to carry 68–85 passengers, depending on the configuration. The Antonov An-158 is a stretched fuselage version of the aircraft, accommodating up to 100 passengers.

Following a crash in February 2018, all An-148 and An-158 in Russia were grounded by the Russian Ministry of Transport. That same year, the Cuban state airline Cubana de Aviación also grounded its An-158 fleet amid reports of technical issues with the aircraft. By the end of 2021, the An-148 reportedly remained in commercial service with a limited number of airlines, including the North Korean state airline Air Koryo, the Russian carrier Angara Airlines, and the Ukrainian start-up Air Ocean Airlines. Furthermore, Antonov adopted a Western-style shared risk model for the funding and develop of the An-148, including for its aftersales support model. 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 both the Interstate Aviation Committee of Russia and the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine.

During 2008, Antonov announced that, in response to customer demand, it was launching development of a stretched version of the An-148 regional passenger aircraft, initially referred to as the An-148-200, capable of seating up to 99 passengers in a single-class cabin configuration. In the following year, this stretched model was rebranded as the An-158; furthermore, a proposed business jet derivative, which had been previously referred to as the Sky Cruiser and intended to seat between eight and 41 passengers, had also been rebranded as the An-168. Under an production-sharing agreement signed in 2005, Russian enterprises were responsible for producing nearly 70 percent of the aircraft's components while the remainder were sourced from Ukrainian manufacturers; A persistent difficulty of the An-148 programme was its slow rate of production, which furthermore proved to be difficult to expand. In light of the then-independent AVIANT plant's initial failure to satisfy growing demand for the An-148, VASO became increasingly involved in the aircraft's manufacture. In early 2018, Ukraine affirmatively banned sales of Progress D-436 aircraft engines to Russia as a consequence of the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea. During October of that year, it was announced that, amid continued disagreements between Russia and Ukraine that could interfere not only with production but also after-sales support of the type, VASO was formally replacing its An-148 production line with one for the Ilyushin Il-112 instead.

Numerous variants and derivatives were envisioned for the An-148. For Siberian operators, Antonov planned a model with a higher gross weight and additional fuel capacity in the center tank, extending the range with 75 passengers from to . An "E" variant was also planned to offer a special range, which would have served as a platform for the "E1", capable of non-stop Moscow-Vladivostok services carrying 44 passengers.

Design

thumb|Flight deck

thumb|2+3 seating

The Antonov An-148 is a high-wing monoplane that is powered by a pair of turbofan engines that are mounted in pods under the wing. This arrangement protects the engines and wing structure against foreign object damage. The manufacturer claims high fuel efficiency of the Motor Sich D-436-148 engines. Other models have been designed for roles including medical evacuation and with an English-language cockpit (for use by Western countries).

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

On 21 December 2009, the An-148 was put into service in Russia with the airline Rossiya; the first passenger flight was FV135 from Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg to Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow. In October 2010, Rossiya publicly complained that the aircraft was suffering from problems that impacted its reliability; during the first

three months of service, the An-148 reportedly encountered one in-flight technical failure every 344 hours. In addition to the allegedly technical problems with the An-148, there were also claims that pilot shortages were occurring due to difficulty in ramping up sufficient training capacity for the type.

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

In December 2011, the Russian government awarded a $65 million contract for a pair of VIP-configured An-148s; delivered over the following two years, these were operated by the Special Air Detachment and used to transport senior Russian government officials. Around this time, Ukraine was reportedly considering procuring a similar-configured An-148 specifically for transporting the President of Ukraine.

On 18 April 2013, the first serial An-158 version was delivered to the Cuban flagship airline Cubana de Aviación. According to Antonov, Cubana placed an order for a pair of additional aircraft, while other sources have claimed that the follow-on order was for ten aircraft. On 28 April 2013, Ukraine's Antonov aircraft maker handed over a third An-158 passenger airliner to Cuba and signed a contract for the delivery of three more.

In April 2016, the Indian company Reliance defense limited and Antonov entered into an agreement to construct an aircraft based on An 148/An 158 for both defense and commercial purposes.

In April 2017, Cubana de Aviación suspended its flights between Havana and Guantánamo due to technical problems with its An-158 fleet. The route from Havana to Holguín also had problems: of 116 planned flights in the first months of 2017, 38 were cancelled and 36 suffered significant delays. Yoanka Acosta, head of Cubana's commercial division, explained that the planes were leased from Ukraine but spare parts were sourced from Russia, thus the state of conflict between the two countries had affected the supply of parts, making maintenance difficult.

In March 2018, Rostransnadzor suspended all flights of An-148 in Russia after the crash on 11 February 2018.

In May 2018, Cubana de Aviación grounded its An-158 fleet after it received an order from the Cuban National Aviation Authority after "multiple and repeating failures (had) been found in complex systems, built by mechanical, hydraulic and electrical components, as well as computer performance algorithms", in addition to "evidence of design and manufacturing flaws, serious issues in flight control system, cracks in the structure and engine temperature increase above normal parameters".

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right"

|+ Production

! Total !! 2018 !! 2017 !! 2016 !! 2015 !! 2014 !! 2013 !! 2012 !! 2011 !! 2010 !! 2009 !! 2008 !! 2007 !! 2006 !! 2005 !! 2004

||47||3||2||3||5||5||9||4||6||6||2||0||0||0||1||1

Variants

thumb|The 29.13 m long An-148

thumb|The m longer An-158

thumb|Proposed military An-148-300MP

;An-148-100A:Main version of the An-148. It has a passenger capacity of 85 in a one-class dense configuration or 68 in a two-class configuration, and a range of

;An-148-100B:extended-range version, up to

;An-148-300:previously called An-168, business variant, seating 8-40 passengers, with a range up to

;An-148DRLV:proposed airborne early warning and control variant.

;An-158:stretched fuselage version for 99 passengers in a one-class standard configuration. 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. Nowadays, after flight and land test in night lands airports of Ecuador (Latacunga / Cotopaxi International Airport, 2806 m AMSL) and Bolivia (La Paz / El Alto International Airport, 4061 m AMSL) in November 2013 prepare documentation for obtaining correspondent supplements to the type certificate of this airplane.

;An-178:cargo variant, with a payload capacity of . The wing outer panels (including winglets), front fuselage with cockpit and nosewheel leg come from the An-158. The cargo hold is slightly enlarged, and there is an extra pair of main-wheels on each side. The An-178 was previously known as the An-148T, which would have had the Progress AI-727 turbofan as a potential power plant option.

;HESA IrAn-148:Designation of An-148 aircraft proposed for license production from knocked down kits in Iran.

Orders and deliveries

The following sheet depicts all known orders and deliveries of An-148 aircraft. However it is unclear if all of them are currently operational:

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

!Airline!!Order!!Delivered!!Refs

| style="text-align:left;"| Air Koryo

| 2

| style="text-align:left;"| Angara Airlines

| 5

| style="text-align:left;"| Ministry of Defence

| 15

|style="text-align:center;"| 15

| style="text-align:left;"| Ministry of Emergency Situations

| 2

|style="text-align:center;"| 2

| style="text-align:left;"| Russian Presidential Administration

| 5

| 3

| style="text-align:left;"| Ukraine Air Enterprise

| 2

| style="text-align:left;"| Border Guard Service of Russia

| 3

| 2

| style="text-align:left;"| Cubana de Aviación

| 6

|- class="sortbottom"

!| Total

! 40

! 37

Incidents and accidents

On 5 March 2011, an Antonov An-148 (assembled by VASO) carrying test registration 61708 crashed during a test flight in Russia's Belgorod Oblast after an inflight breakup, killing all six crew members on board. An investigation commission found that the crew permitted the aircraft to accelerate more than 60 knots above its "Never Exceed" speed in an emergency descent, which led to the inflight breakup. Witnesses on the ground reported a wing had separated from the aircraft in flight. The aircraft was due to be delivered to Myanmar.
On 11 February 2018, an Antonov An-148 operating as Saratov Airlines Flight 703, crashed shortly after takeoff near Ramenskoye, outside of Moscow. The aircraft was carrying 65 passengers and six crew members. There were no survivors. This is the first fatal commercial accident for this aircraft type.

Specifications

thumb|upright=2|Three-view diagram

{| style="text-align: center" class="wikitable"

|+ Antonov An-148 specifications

! Variant

!148-100E

!158 *

! Cockpit crew

| colspan=2 | 2

! Seats

| 68–85

| 86–99

! Seat pitch

| 30–35 in

| 30–34 in

! Cargo

| –

! Length

! Wingspan

| colspan=2|

! Wing area

| colspan=2|

! Height

| colspan=2|

! Cabin

| colspan=2 | width × height

! MTOW

| colspan=2 |

! Max. payload

! OEW

| colspan=2 |

! Max. fuel

| colspan=2 |

! Turbofan (x 2)

| Progress D-436-148

| D-436

! Thrust (x 2)

! Ceiling

| colspan=2 |

! Cruise

| colspan=2 |

! Range (75 pax/max PL)

! Fuel burn

! Takeoff (MTOW)

References

External links

Antonov An-148 page on the Antonov website
Antonov An-158 page on the Antonov website
Promotional video of the An-148 by Antonov
3D-model Antonov ASTC. An-148 twin jet airliner for the ″3D Buildings″ layer inside Google Earth
3D-model An-148 jet aircraft take off, Kyiv for the ″3D Buildings″ layer inside Google Earth

Design

Variants

Orders and deliveries

Incidents and accidents

Specifications

See also

References

External links