Considerable interest in aircraft according to Polyot (240 words)

Published: 10/5/2000

The Russian AP25 certificate for the upgraded turboprop powered version of the An-2, the An-3, was handed over to the aircraft producer Omsk based Polyot on the 5th October. Representatives of around 20 airlines, including some foreign carriers, according to Serguey Nazarkov, Head of Marketing of the Omsk NPO Polyot, attended the ceremony. At present, three An-3s are completed and awaiting delivery to customers including one aircraft for Norilsk Airlines, and two for Tuva Airlines. Work is also in progress on several aircraft for operators in Norilsk, Magadan, and Novosibirsk. The upgrade that involves using An-2 airframes with reasonable airframe lives remaining. Requires a complete stripping of the aircraft and the replacement of many of the aircraft's parts including the installation of a TVD-20 engine driving a Stupino AV-17 three-blade propeller and provides an additional 20,000 hrs of life for the utility biplane. The cost of the overhaul is around $0.4-0.5m per aircraft and the producer is getting considerable interest with the order book currently said to be around 50 aircraft although the status of the orders is unclear. To date the company has not received any foreign interest, but there have been inquiries from the foreign operators with Cuba mentioned in particular.

Article ID: 2110