Antonov An-148

The beginning of the An-148 project dates to the early 1990s, when work on modifying the existing Antonov An-74 for passenger duties started, headed by Petro Balabuev. In 2001, the project was redesignated An-148. Changes from the earlier An-74 include the extension of the fuselage and the adoption of a clean-sheet wing design. Furthermore, Antonov adopted a Western-style shared risk model for the funding and develop of the An-148, including for its aftersales support model. During the certification programme, the two prototypes performed about 600 flights in total. On 26 February 2007, the aircraft, its D-436-148 engine and the AI-450-МS auxiliary power unit were certified by both the Interstate Aviation Committee of Russia and the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine. During 2008, Antonov announced that, in response to customer demand, it was launching development of a stretched version of the An-148 regional passenger aircraft, initially referred to as the An-148-200, capable of seating up to 99 passengers in a single-class cabin configuration. In the following year, this stretched model was rebranded as the An-158; furthermore, a proposed business jet derivative, which had been previously referred to as the Sky Cruiser and intended to seat between eight and 41 passengers, had also been rebranded as the An-168. Under an production-sharing agreement signed in 2005, Russian enterprises were responsible for producing nearly 70 percent of the aircraft's components while the remainder were sourced from Ukrainian manufacturers; A persistent difficulty of the An-148 programme was its slow rate of production, which furthermore proved to be difficult to expand. In light of the then-independent AVIANT plant's initial failure to satisfy growing demand for the An-148, VASO became increasingly involved in the aircraft's manufacture. In early 2018, Ukraine affirmatively banned sales of Progress D-436 aircraft engines to Russia as a consequence of the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea. During October of that year, it was announced that, amid continued disagreements between Russia and Ukraine that could interfere not only with production but also after-sales support of the type, VASO was formally replacing its An-148 production line with one for the Ilyushin Il-112 instead. Numerous variants and derivatives were envisioned for the An-148. For Siberian operators, Antonov planned a model with a higher gross weight and additional fuel capacity in the center tank, extending the range with 75 passengers from to . An "E" variant was also planned to offer a special range, which would have served as a platform for the "E1", capable of non-stop Moscow-Vladivostok services carrying 44 passengers. ==Design==

The Antonov An-148 is a high-wing monoplane that is powered by a pair of turbofan engines that are mounted in pods under the wing. This arrangement protects the engines and wing structure against foreign object damage. The manufacturer claims high fuel efficiency of the Motor Sich D-436-148 engines. Other models have been designed for roles including medical evacuation and with an English-language cockpit (for use by Western countries). The stretched An-158, unlike the base An-148, can be outfitted with winglets, which Antonov have stated to have resulted in an 8.5 percent improvement in fuel efficiency. ==Operational history==

In April 2005, the Ilyushin Finance Leasing Company ordered the first series of An-148 for the Krasair airline. Lease agreement calls for ten aircraft with an option for five units valued at $270 million. On 2 June 2009, the first An-148 entered commercial service with the Ukrainian carrier Aerosvit. The first passenger flight was from Kharkiv to Kyiv; the aircraft had the civilian registration UR-NTA. By November 2009, Aerosvit was operating the An-148 on the Kyiv–Odesa and Simferopol–Lviv routes, performing two flights per day with the average flight time of 4–5 hours. On 21 December 2009, the An-148 was put into service in Russia with the airline Rossiya; the first passenger flight was FV135 from Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg to Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow. In October 2010, Rossiya publicly complained that the aircraft was suffering from problems that impacted its reliability; during the first three months of service, the An-148 reportedly encountered one in-flight technical failure every 344 hours. In addition to the allegedly technical problems with the An-148, there were also claims that pilot shortages were occurring due to difficulty in ramping up sufficient training capacity for the type. On 15 February 2010, the An-148 started international flights to the European Union (Poland) with the Aerosvit airline. In December 2011, the Russian government awarded a $65 million contract for a pair of VIP-configured An-148s; delivered over the following two years, these were operated by the Special Air Detachment and used to transport senior Russian government officials. Around this time, Ukraine was reportedly considering procuring a similar-configured An-148 specifically for transporting the President of Ukraine. On 18 April 2013, the first serial An-158 version was delivered to the Cuban flagship airline Cubana de Aviación. According to Antonov, Cubana placed an order for a pair of additional aircraft, while other sources have claimed that the follow-on order was for ten aircraft. On 28 April 2013, Ukraine's Antonov aircraft maker handed over a third An-158 passenger airliner to Cuba and signed a contract for the delivery of three more. In April 2016, the Indian company Reliance defense limited and Antonov entered into an agreement to construct an aircraft based on An 148/An 158 for both defense and commercial purposes. In April 2017, Cubana de Aviación suspended its flights between Havana and Guantánamo due to technical problems with its An-158 fleet. The route from Havana to Holguín also had problems: of 116 planned flights in the first months of 2017, 38 were cancelled and 36 suffered significant delays. Yoanka Acosta, head of Cubana's commercial division, explained that the planes were leased from Ukraine but spare parts were sourced from Russia, thus the state of conflict between the two countries had affected the supply of parts, making maintenance difficult. In March 2018, Rostransnadzor suspended all flights of An-148 in Russia after the crash on 11 February 2018. In May 2018, Cubana de Aviación grounded its An-158 fleet after it received an order from the Cuban National Aviation Authority after "multiple and repeating failures (had) been found in complex systems, built by mechanical, hydraulic and electrical components, as well as computer performance algorithms", in addition to "evidence of design and manufacturing flaws, serious issues in flight control system, cracks in the structure and engine temperature increase above normal parameters". ==Variants==

;An-148-100A:Main version of the An-148. It has a passenger capacity of 85 in a one-class dense configuration or 68 in a two-class configuration, and a range of ;An-148-100B:extended-range version, up to ;An-148-300:previously called An-168, business variant, seating 8-40 passengers, with a range up to ;An-148DRLV:proposed airborne early warning and control variant. ;An-158:stretched fuselage version for 99 passengers in a one-class standard configuration. Other changes include the installation of wingtip fences. The airplane successfully completed its first flight on 28 April 2010, with flight certification tests planned to be completed before the end of 2010; on 3 March 2011, it was given Russian certification. Nowadays, after flight and land test in night lands airports of Ecuador (Latacunga / Cotopaxi International Airport, 2806 m AMSL) and Bolivia (La Paz / El Alto International Airport, 4061 m AMSL) in November 2013 prepare documentation for obtaining correspondent supplements to the type certificate of this airplane. ;An-178:cargo variant, with a payload capacity of . The wing outer panels (including winglets), front fuselage with cockpit and nosewheel leg come from the An-158. The cargo hold is slightly enlarged, and there is an extra pair of main-wheels on each side. The An-178 was previously known as the An-148T, which would have had the Progress AI-727 turbofan as a potential power plant option. ;HESA IrAn-148:Designation of An-148 aircraft proposed for license production from knocked down kits in Iran. ==Orders and deliveries==

The following sheet depicts all known orders and deliveries of An-148 aircraft. However it is unclear if all of them are currently operational: ==Incidents and accidents==

• On 5 March 2011, an Antonov An-148 (assembled by VASO) carrying test registration 61708 crashed during a test flight in Russia's Belgorod Oblast after an inflight breakup, killing all six crew members on board. An investigation commission found that the crew permitted the aircraft to accelerate more than 60 knots above its "Never Exceed" speed in an emergency descent, which led to the inflight breakup. Witnesses on the ground reported a wing had separated from the aircraft in flight. The aircraft was due to be delivered to Myanmar. • On 11 February 2018, an Antonov An-148 operating as Saratov Airlines Flight 703, crashed shortly after takeoff near Ramenskoye, outside of Moscow. The aircraft was carrying 65 passengers and six crew members. There were no survivors. This is the first fatal commercial accident for this aircraft type. ==Specifications==