OREANDA-NEWS. July 28, 2011. JSC “Voronezh Aircraft Manufacturing Company” during a ceremony handed-over the first An-148-100E regional aircraft to Polet airlines. The documents on hand-over of the aircraft (registration number RA-61709) were signed by representatives of the lessor – CJSC Sberbank-Leasing, the manufacturer – JSC Voronezh Aircraft Manufacturing Company and the operator – CJSC Polet airlines, reported the press-centre of UAC.

This is the first of 10 aircraft of this modification to be delivered by the Voronezh aviation plant in accordance with the leasing agreement signed in October 2010 between CJSC Sberbank Leasing and CJSC Polet airlines and the purchase-sale agreement between CJSC Sberbank Leasing and JSC Voronezh Aircraft Manufacturing Company. JSC Sberbank finances the purchase; the first credit line to Sberbank Leasing will be up to RUR 1.4 billion.

The hand-over ceremony gathered Anatoly Karpov, General Director of Polet Airlines; Vitaly Zubarev, General Director of JSC Voronezh Aircraft Manufacturing Company; Roman Strukov, Vice-President of CJSC Sberbank-Leasing; Yury Grudinin, Deputy General Director of Limited Liability Company UAC-Antonov; Victor Kazurov, Deputy General Designer of the State Enterprise Antonov (Ukraine); Vladimir Shirkov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the State Enterprise Motor-Sich (Ukraine); Alexander Gusev, Deputy Governor of Voronezh Region; representatives of the RF Ministry of Industry and Trade, JSC UAC and others.

Anatoly Karpov, General Director of Polet Airlines said: “The 4400 km range of the aircraft delivered to Polet airlines by the Voronezh aviation plant will allow the air carrier to provide services between the Black Earth Region and Ural and Siberian regional centers as well as to launch flights to Egypt, Spain, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and other destinations.” As early as this August passengers of Polet airlines can take advantage of the first flight to Saint Petersburg aboard the An-148 manufactured by Voronezh aviation plant.

Dmitry Zotov, General Director of CJSC Sberbank-Leasing said earlier: “the agreement on the An-148 reflects the leasing company’s general commitment to strengthen the Russian aviation industry as one of the key vectors of development of the national economy.”

Yury Grudinin, General Director of UAC-Antonov Limited Liability Company, noted: taking into account the demand of the Russian air carriers for regional aircraft, serial production of the An-148 still remains one of the key priorities in this project and one of the major tasks set for the joint Russian-Ukrainian enterprise.

Vitaly Zubarev, General Director of JSC Voronezh Aircraft Manufacturing Company, said that the hand-over of the An-148-100E to Voronezh’s Polet airline is the first milestone in the strategic partnership between the aviation plant, Polet airlines and Sberbank-Leasing. The aircraft is the ninth An-148 aircraft manufactured by the Voronezh aviation plant and the first one in the Polet airline’s fleet.

At present, the Voronezh aviation plant carries out the flight tests of the second An-148-100E aircraft of this modification designated for Polet airlines and painted in the air carrier’s colours. We plan to hand-over that aircraft to Polet this August. The plant also assembles the fourth Il-96-400T for the cargo branch of the airline.