OREANDA-NEWS. The very first day of MAKS 2013 air show has seen Antonov company president Dmitry Kiva, Aviacor CEO Alexey Gusev and KhGAPP CEO Anatoly Myalitsa agree a road map to establish a Russian-Ukrainian joint venture. The new JV's primary focus will be on promoting the modernized An-140-100 and its modifications.

The road map was signed during a conference arranged jointly by Antonov company and Aviacor in order to discuss modernization of the An-140-100 airplane. Motor Sich CEO Vyacheslav Boguslayev has also taken part in the event.

According to Antonov's vice-president Oleg Bogdanov, the design bureau is now exploring the possibility of modernizing the An-140. The new version will feature greater passenger capacity (64 seats instead of 52), glass cockpit and more powerful TV3-117 VМА-SBМ-2 engines Motor Sich is currently developing.

The An-140-100 line is expected to be expanded by adding more modifications including ramp and cargo version with side loading door, marine patrol aircraft, airborne mapping system, nuclear facilities monitoring aircraft, ambulance and medevac airplane.

The establishment of the Russian-Ukrainian joint venture will significantly facilitate the modernization of the An-140 in both countries. The move follows the guidelines set in paragraph 6 of the Protocol agreed by the attendees of the fifth meeting of Russian-Ukrainian intergovernmental commission dated July 12, 2012 “On top-priority measures to promote integration between the airplane making industries of the two countries by way of establishing joint ventures by types of aircraft”.

The parties have agreed that in the near future they will prepare incorporation documents and submit draft documents the JV needs to function efficiently to respective public authorities of bothRussiaandUkraine.