OREANDA-NEWS. October 19, 2007. ANTONOV ASTC was visited by Mr. Henri Bentejeat, Head of Military Committee of EU. During the visit he familiarized in details with the abilities of AN-124-100 “Ruslan” heavy transport, which is known and demanded in Europe. Within the period of 2006-2007, aircraft of the ANTONOV AIRLINES performed 723 commercial flights to the countries of Europe, carried 33.223 tons of various freights. At present, aircraft of ANTONOV AIRLINES and “Volga Dnepr” group of companies joint venture continue working within the limits of SALIS programme.

Among the projects which could become the basis for further development of cooperation with Europe, ANTONOV presented the programme of AN-32P fire fighter. This aircraft is able to fulfil effectively all tasks requested by Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre. Among them are those on delivery of cargo, suffered persons evacuation and fire extinguishing. Participation of the aircraft in extinguishing of the forest fires in Albania this summer is the striking example of this.

In conclusion of the visit Mr. Bentejeat highly appreciated the potential of ANTONOV ASTC and said that “European Union is very interested in use of reliable ANTONOV aircraft”.