The Antonov Corporation's An-148 To Be Certified In 3Q06.

According to the CEO of the Aviant plant, after certifications, one of the two existing An-148 planes will be delivered to State JSC “Berkut” (Kazakhstan). There are already 24 orders for the An-148 in 2006-08. Motor Sich (MSICH: BUY), the producer of engines for An-148, has announced plans to make four engines (for two planes) in 2006. The An-148 regional passenger plane will be presented along with the An-70 military-transportation plane and the heavy-weight carrier An-124 (which is scheduled for modernization and to be returned to serial production) at the international aviation exhibition “Aviasvit XXI” in Gostomel, Ukraine on June 8-12. In related news, Aviant announced plans to deliver two An-70 planes to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. Russia recently announced that it was backing out of the project, once intellectual property right issues surrounding Russia’s departure are resolved, Ukraine plans to look for a partner elsewhere. India, China and Iran have reportedly voiced interest.