Volga-Dnepr chairman Alexey Isaikin and Aviastar-SP executive director Valery Savotchenko put pen to paper on a deal for the Ukraine company to build a new Antonov An-124-100M for the out-sized cargo airline.
The contract resurrects the dormant An-124 production line, and could lead to more An-124 orders.
The aircraft will be the 10th in the airline's fleet and is scheduled for delivery by the end of 2003. It is being financed by a $29.9 million loan agreement between Volga-Dnepr and the World Bank's International Finance Organisation.
Antonov is making various improvements to the new An-124, including an extended service life of 24,000 flight hours, a three-crew cockpit instead of four crew plus a flight engineer/loadmaster, a new avionics suite, and an increased payload of 150t.
Source: Flight Daily News
