Russian airline Volga-Dnepr plans to establish a cargo carrier in September with two Boeing 747-400 freighters, as it separately tries to attract investors to restart Antonov An-124 production after a record year of operations of the type.
The new airline will be a joint venture with Western investors, says Volga-Dnepr chairman Alexei Isaikin. He plans to lease secondhand 747s for scheduled and charter operations between China and Europe.
Volga-Dnepr's cargo business generated $184 million revenues last year, 90% of them fromAn-124 operations. Isaikin attributes greater An-124 use to United Nations activities in Afghanistan and increased US aerospace business.
The Russian company is trying to get An-124-100 production restarted at Aviastar's Ulynovsk factory and wants to form a consortium of investors and airlines to place a large joint order. Isaikin says any restart would only be viable for at least 50 airframes, and estimates total costs of $3 billion. Proposed upgrades include increasing payload capacity from 120,000kg (264,300lb) to at least 150,000kg, and quieter, higher-thrust ZMKB Progress D-18T engines. Western avionics and engines are also being considered.
The estimated price of a new An-124 is $60-70 million, which Isaikin believes is attractive when compared to the proposed Boeing BC-17, which costs more than twice as much.
Source: Flight International
