President Petro Poroshenko took part in festivities on the occasion of the creation of new multipurpose air freighter An-132D.
The Head of State called the day of presentation of the plane-demonstrator really historic. “Really few states in the world can celebrate such holiday like the launch of new model and I congratulate “Antonov” plant and its staff on that, I congratulate the whole Ukraine and all Ukrainians, I congratulate our partners. This plane extends glorious line of our Ukrainian air freighters including world-famous “Antei”, “Ruslan” and “Mriya”,” he said.
Petro Poroshenko emphasized that the creation of An-132D was a truly international project that involved not only customers from Saudi Arabia, but also leading companies in the world aviation from Canada, UK, USA, Germany and France. The President expressed gratitude to all partners and clients for their participation in the implementation of the project. He is confident that it would become one of the first common business projects between Ukraine and Saudi Arabia.
“This cooperation with Saudi Arabia is mutually beneficial, because our partners receive foundation for the development of their own aviation sphere. This is a fair and great assessment of the experience of “Antonov” in the sphere of aircraft manufacturing. It will allow creating new planes, especially ones with features of short takeoff and landing, that will be capable of operating in extreme conditions and proved their capability to work all over the world efficiently and reliably,” the Head of State emphasized.
“It is important that in conditions of Russian aggression against our state, in conditions when the element of hybrid war is, inter alia, closure of Russian markets, “Antonov” staff and Ukrainian authorities find new promising markets for Ukrainian producers,” he also added.
The President stressed that new multipurpose air freighter An-132D had been designed and constructed in record time - 1.5 years. At the same time, he noted that the plane must be tested and improved to ensure significant advantages over analogues. “We are confident that this plane has a great future. We are confident that it has a market of 260-290 planes up to the year 2035. And I am grateful for this holiday and this victory to all constructors and all our partners,” Petro Poroshenko said.
The Head of State drew attention to the fact that the project had also involved a series of Ukrainian enterprises that had demonstrated efficient cooperation.
Petro Poroshenko once again congratulated everyone involved in the project and all attendees of the presentation on this remarkable event and wished happy future to the new plane.
Upon completion of the speech, the President presented chevrons to the crew and examined the plane from inside.
Cooperation between Ukraine and Saudi Arabia in the aviation sphere is one of the most promising areas of bilateral relations. It has become one of the first examples of practical implementation of Ukrainian-Saudi cooperation at the level of high technologies.
Reaching an agreement to establish production of “Antonov” planes for Saudi Arabia has been a long process of negotiations, which has been completed in May 2015 with a signature of Partnership Agreement between “Antonov” and “TAQNIA Aeronautics”.
According to the given agreement, An-32 aircraft will be modernized to build multipurpose light An-132 air freighter with involvement of western technologies.
The agreement provides for the creation of production capacities for the production of this plane in the city of Ta'if, training of Saudi pilots and technicians for the manufacturing process, operation and maintenance of the aircraft.
The demo sample of An-132D has been built and fully assembled in December 2016. Its demo flight in Saudi Arabia is scheduled approximately for March 2017.