Ukrainian president Victor Yushenko has given the country's government two weeks to approve plans to merge Antonov's design house and two production plants into a "nationally vertically integrated" organisation, following a meeting with Ukrainian aviation industry representatives.
NPO Antonov would incorporate the design house as well as the Kiev-based KiGAZ Aviant and Kharkov-based KSAMC plants.
Antonov designer Piotr Balabuyev has resigned in protest at the decision. He says uniting the three enterprises is unnecessary and will only increase the risks local industry faces on the international market. Balabuyev had favoured "soft" integration, keeping the three enterprises as independent businesses.
Yushenko's decree also calls for the government to provide a favourable regime of state funding for export-oriented aviation production and to introduce a programme for the renewal of Ukrainian airline fleets with An-140-100, An-74 and An-148 aircraft. Yushenko has appointed state secretary Aleksandr Zinchenko to supervise developments.
The resignation of Balabuyev leaves the industry in an uncertain state. The Ukrainian government is yet to choose a replacement for him, but is believed to be considering KSAMC general director Pavel Naumenko, a strong supporter of the merger, and Antonov deputy general designer Dmitry Kiva.
Last year Naumenko published a detailed proposal for reviving the Ukrainian aerospace industry by concentrating state and commercial resources on producing the newly developed An-140 and An-148 regional aircraft.
Vladimir Karnozov /Moscow
Source: Flight International
