13 July 2008
The long-awaited unification of Ukraine’s airplane producers has finally happened. The corporation will include the state-owned companies: The Antonov Complex, Aviant, The Kharkiv State Aviation Production Company, and The Kyiv Avia-Repair Plant. Earlier government announced plans to create a plane-construction corporation by 2006, which it will later turn into a concern. Antonov had protested against the creation of the corporation because of debts owed to it by The Kharkiv Aviation Enterprise, which will likely be canceled after the concern is created.Concorde-Capital: The corporation plans to compete more efficiently with world regional airline producers, including the Canadian Bombardier and Brazilian Embraer companies. The new corporation is currently working on an An-148 regional passenger airplane, which is being tested now, and new versions of the super-heavy An-124 ?Ruslan? airplane.