The Antonov An-148 () is a

regional jet A regional jet (RJ) is a jet airliner, jet-powered regional airliner usually defined by having fewer than 100 seats. The first aircraft considered part of this category was the Sud-Aviation Caravelle in 1959, followed by Douglas DC-9, BAC O ...

designed and built by

Antonov Antonov (d/b/a Antonov Company, formerly the Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex named after Antonov or Antonov ASTC, and earlier the Antonov Design Bureau, for its chief designer, Oleg Antonov) is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Development of the aircraft was started in the 1990s, and its maiden flight took place on 17 December 2004. The aircraft completed its certification programme on 26 February 2007. The An-148 has a maximum range of and is able to carry 68–85 passengers, depending on the configuration. The Antonov An-158 is a stretched fuselage version of the aircraft, accommodating up to 100 passengers. Following a crash in February 2018, all An-148 and An-158 in Russia were grounded by the Russian Ministry of Transport. In addition, Cubana grounded its An-158 fleet as of May 2018 due to several technical issues with the aircraft. Until late 2018, the Antonov An-148 aircraft was also being produced in Russia by

Voronezh Aircraft Production Association Voronezh Aircraft Production Association (VASO in English, ВАСО in Russian, Воронежское акционерное самолётостроительное общество, literally ''Society of Voronezh Joint-Ownership Aircraft Buil ...

; however, due to the souring political relationship between Ukraine and Russia, production in Russia was discontinued. The last Russian-built An-148 was completed in October 2018.

Development

The beginning of the An-148 project dates to the early 1990s, when work on the

Antonov An-74 The Antonov An-74 (Russian language, Russian: Антонов Ан-74, NATO reporting name: Coaler) is a Soviet Union, Soviet/Ukraine, Ukrainian Cargo aircraft, transport aircraft developed by Antonov. It is a development of the Antonov An-72, An ...

passenger modification started, headed by Petro Balabuev. In 2001, the project was renamed An-148. The An-74

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

was extended and the new aircraft's wing design was created from scratch. The developers initially used

Motor Sich The Motor Sich, Joint Stock Company () is a Ukrainian aircraft engine manufacturer headquartered in Zaporizhzhia. The company manufactures engines for airplanes and helicopters as well as industrial marine gas turbines and installations. Ov ...

D-436-148 engines. Other variants with Western-made engines with thrust of (such as the

General Electric CF34 The General Electric CF34 is a civilian high-bypass turbofan developed by GE Aviation from its TF34 military engine. The CF34 is used on a number of business and regional jets, including the Bombardier CRJ series, the Embraer E-Jets, and ...

Rolls-Royce BR700 The Rolls-Royce BR700 is a family of turbofan engines for regional jets and corporate jets. It is manufactured in Dahlewitz, Germany, by Rolls-Royce Deutschland: this was initially a joint venture of BMW and Rolls-Royce plc established in 1990 t ...

) are being considered. In 2002, production of the first three prototypes was begun at AVIANT. On 17 December 2004, the first prototype completed its maiden flight. The second prototype joined the testing programme in April 2005. 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 the

Interstate Aviation Committee The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC; ) is an executive body of the Civil Aviation and Airspace Use Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and was formed in 1991 State Aviation Administration of Ukraine The State Aviation Administration of Ukraine () is an agency of the Ukrainian government under the Ministry of Infrastructure responsible for civil aviation. The head office is in Kyiv (14 Peremogy Avenue, Kyiv, 01135, Ukraine).Kyiv AVIANT plant (now Antonov Serial Production Plant) and Russia's

(VASO). On 28 June 2009, the first serially produced An-148, manufactured at VASO in

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

, took to the skies. Although numerous companies are involved in the project, at least 70% of the aircraft's hardware is made by Russian manufacturers. The An-148's list price is about $24–30 million. The main problem with the project has been increasing the aircraft's sluggish production rate. The then-independent AVIANT plant initially failed to satisfy to growing orders, leading to VASO's growing involvement in the aircraft's assembly. VASO announced in June 2017 that the two final Russian-assembled An-148s would be delivered, and the project would not see further development. In early 2018, Ukraine affirmatively banned sales of Progress D-436 aircraft engines to Russia as a consequence of the

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russ ...

. For Siberian operators, Antonov plans 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 is also planned to offer a special range, which would serve as a platform for the "E1", capable of non-stop Moscow-Vladivostok services carrying 44 passengers.

Design

The An-148 aircraft is a

high-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing config ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

with two

turbofan A turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a combination of references to the preceding generation engine technology of the turbojet and the add ...

jet engines mounted in pods under the wing. This arrangement protects the engines and wing structure against foreign object damage. A built-in autodiagnosis system,

auxiliary power unit An auxiliary power unit (APU) is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft and naval ships as well as some large land vehicles. Aircraft APUs generally produce 115&n ...

, and the wing configuration allow the An-148 to be used at poorly equipped airfields. Flight and navigation equipment features five liquid crystal display panels built by Russia's Aviapribor and a

fly-by-wire Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional aircraft flight control system#Hydro-mechanical, manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic sig ...

system, which enables the An-148 aircraft to operate day and night, under

instrument flight rules In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fl ...

and

visual flight rules In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) is a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better tha ...

weather conditions on high-density air routes. Similar to the

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

, the main landing gear rotates into the belly of the aircraft when in flight, with partial doors covering the legs, and the sides of the tires remaining exposed. Built-in entrance stairs enable boarding and disembarking the aircraft without extra ground equipment. The manufacturer claims high fuel efficiency of the

Motor Sich D-436-148 The Progress D-436 is a triple-spool high-bypass turbofan engine developed by the Ukrainian company Ivchenko-Progress during the Soviet era, and manufactured by Motor Sich in Ukraine. It was initially developed to meet the requirements for lat ...

engines. The An-148-100 regional aircraft is the main model of the An-148. It seats 70 passengers at or up to 80 passengers at pitch in a one-class 2+3 seating layout. The aircraft is also configurable in a multiple-class layout which can carry fewer passengers, typically with four abreast business class.

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-148-100E:extended-range version, up to and a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of ;An-148-200:unified with An-158 by the rear part of the fuselage. Hence maximum seating capacity is increased to 89 passengers in dense configuration, comparing to 85 for An-148-100. Planned for production in Kyiv with An-158. ;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 An airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system is an airborne radar early warning system designed to detect aircraft, ships, vehicles, missiles and other incoming projectiles at long ranges, as well as performing command and control of the ...

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 Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

(

Latacunga Latacunga (; Quechua: Latakunga) is a plateau city of Ecuador, capital of the Cotopaxi Province, south of Quito, near the confluence of the Alaquez and Cutuchi rivers to form the Patate, the headstream of the Pastaza. At the time of census ...

/ Cotopaxi International Airport, 2806 m AMSL) and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

(

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

El Alto International Airport El Alto International Airport () is an international airport serving La Paz, Bolivia. It is located in the city of El Alto, west of La Paz. At an elevation of , it is the highest international airport in the world, the seventh highest commer ...

, 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 Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

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 AeroSvit Airlines private stock company (), operating as AeroSvit — Ukrainian Airlines / АероСвіт, was a Ukraine, Ukrainian private airline. Its head office was on the grounds of the Boryspil International Airport in Boryspil. ...

. The first passenger flight was from

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

; the aircraft had the civilian registration ''UR-NTA''. By November 2009, Aerosvit was operating the An-148 on the Kyiv–

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

and

Simferopol Simferopol ( ), also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, but controlled by Russia. It is considered the cap ...

–

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

routes, performing two flights a day with the average flight time of 4–5 hours. On 21 December 2009, the An-148 was put into service in Russia with Rossiya airline. The first passenger flight was FV135 from

Pulkovo Airport Pulkovo Airport ( rus, links=no, Аэропорт Пулково, p=ˈpuɫkəvə, Location identifier#Russian location identifier, Internal code: ПЛК) is an international airport serving St. Petersburg, Russia. It is the List of the busiest ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Sheremetyevo International Airport Sheremetyevo International Airport (, , Internal code: ШРМ) is one of four international airports that serve the city of Moscow. It is the busiest airport in Russia and the post-Soviet states, as well as the ninth-busiest airport in Euro ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. By 20 May 2010, Rossiya's An-148 fleet had accumulated a total of 915 flight hours and performed 710 landings. Rossiya complained that the aircraft experienced some reliability problems. There were some technical problems with the aircraft, and pilot training could not be ramped up fast enough, leading to pilot shortages. However, by 2011 the situation had improved. On 15 February 2010, the An-148 started international flights to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(Poland) with the

airline. On 18 April 2013, the first serial An-158 version was delivered to the

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n flagship airline

Cubana de Aviación Cubana de Aviación S.A., or simply Cubana, is the flag carrier and largest airline of Cuba. It was founded in October 1929, becoming one of the earliest airlines to emerge in Latin America. It has its corporate headquarters in Havana, and its ...

. According to Antonov, Cubana additionally ordered two more aircraft, while other sources report this order to be 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, Indian company Reliance defense limited and Antonov entered into an agreement to construct an aircraft based on An 148/ An 158 for defense and commercial purposes. In April 2017,

suspended its flights between

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Guantánamo Guantánamo (, , ) is a municipality and city in southeast Cuba and capital of Guantánamo Province. Guantánamo is served by the Caimanera port near the site of a U.S. naval base. The area produces sugarcane and cotton wool. These are traditi ...

due to "technical problems" with its An-158 fleet. The route from Havana to

Holguín Holguín (, ) is a municipality-city in Cuba. After Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Camagüey, it is the List of cities in Cuba, fourth largest city in Cuba. History Before Christopher Columbus, Columbus, the Taino people settled in huts made fro ...

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

but spare parts were sourced from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, so the state of conflict between the two countries had affected the supply of parts, making maintenance difficult. In late April, however, representatives from Antonov and Cubana met and signed a service agreement that extended the aircraft's navigation directives to 3,600 flights and guaranteed the supply of spare parts, although it did not specify a date for normalization. In March 2018,

Rostransnadzor The Federal Service for Supervision of Transport (, Rostransnadzor, Ространснадзор) is an agency of the Government of Russia. The agency is headquartered in Moscow. It was formed in 2004 as a result of Government of Russia, governme ...

suspended all flights of An-148 in Russia after the crash on 11 February 2018. In May 2018,

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". On 18 September 2023, the Ukrainian military intelligence claimed a raid against

Chkalovsky Air Base Chkalovsky is a military air base near Shchyolkovo, Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located 31 km northeast of Moscow. The airport name is also given as Chkalovskoye. The facility should not be confused with Kaliningrad Chkalovsk or Omsk ...

, near Moscow, occurred. During which they claimed to have damaged an An-148.

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 Belgorod Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Belgorod. , the population is 1,540,486. History During the Princely ...

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 Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. * On 11 February 2018, an Antonov An-148 operating as

Saratov Airlines Flight 703 Saratov Airlines Flight 703 was a domestic passenger flight from Moscow Domodedovo Airport to Orsk Airport in Russia. On 11 February 2018, the aircraft serving the flight, an Antonov An-148-100B, crashed shortly after take-off, killing all 71 ...

, crashed shortly after takeoff near Ramenskoye, outside of

. 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

References

External links

Antonov An-148 page on the Antonov website

Antonov An-158 page on the Antonov website

Promotional video of the An-148 by Antonov
* 3D-mode
''Antonov ASTC. An-148 twin jet airliner''
for the ″3D Buildings″ layer inside Google Earth * 3D-mode
'' An-148 jet aircraft take off, Kyiv''
for the ″3D Buildings″ layer inside Google Earth {{Antonov aircraft

An-148 The Antonov An-148 () is a regional jet designed and built by Antonov of Ukraine. Development of the aircraft was started in the 1990s, and its maiden flight took place on 17 December 2004. The aircraft completed its certification programme on ...

2000s Ukrainian airliners Twinjets T-tail aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2004 Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear