Another operator for the An-148

The Antonov An-148 regional jetliner is not new to MAKS; the aircraft debuted here as a prototype back in 2005. This year it is being displayed as a full-blown market product with two Russian commercial customers under its belt. Rossiya Airlines currently operates a fleet of six An-148-100Vs in baseline configuration. And Polet Airlines took delivery of its first An-148-100E in July with nine more to follow. Polet’s version of the aircraft differs in the operating range extended by 900 km to 4,400 km. The batch is being built by Voronezh-based VASO plant under a financial lease contract with Sberbank Leasing signed in October 2010. Revenue services should begin in August, to coincide with the second delivery.

The An-148 is successfully proving its worth in initial operation. Rossiya held a fifth conference in June to report current technical results of operating the type. According to the airline, since the launch of revenue services its An-148 fleet has performed over 6,700 flights, carrying about 330,000 passengers. In the first five months of 2011 alone, Rossiya’s An-148s carried 135,687 passengers in 2,776 flights to 24 destinations including foreign cities. The average seat load factor stood at about 73%, with the typical sector length exceeding two hours. Hours flown per serviceable aircraft saw a 115.1% increase compared to the same period last year; in May 2011 the average figure stood at 238 hours, with individual airframes logging as high as 286 flight hours. On the other hand, profitability will only start at a monthly 300 hours flown per aircraft. Flight crew training presents another challenge, but there are two full-flight simulators — at Domodedovo airport (operated by the S7 Training center) and in Kiev — that will soon become available for this purpose.