VOLGA-DNEPR TAKES DELIVERY OF ITS TENTH AN-124-100 ‘RUSLAN’

Moscow, May 24, 2004. – Volga-Dnepr Airlines has taken delivery of its new AN-124-100 ‘Ruslan’ heavy-duty freighter. The aircraft built for the airline by Ulyanovsk’s Aviastar-SP will be the tenth AN-124-100 in Volga-Dnepr’s fleet. The jet has already been given the hull No. RA-82081.

The new Ruslan is an AN-124-100M, a modernised version of the AN-124-100 freighter, which is the core of the Volga-Dnepr fleet. The new outsize and heavyweight cargo aircraft provides a unique 150-tonne payload capability and has an increased take-off weight of 402 tons. The freighter’s range has also been extended from 4,750 to 6,500 km carrying up to 120 tons of cargo.

The building of the aircraft was financed with a loan by the International Finance Corporation and with Volga-Dnepr’s own funds. The US$29.9 million loan deal with IFC was finalized in Moscow in July 2002.

“Today, Volga-Dnepr is the largest AN-124 operator in the world. Our commitment to this unique freighter has enabled us to add a new dimension to the global air cargo market. We are confident, however, that the potential for the aircraft is far from exhausted. That’s why we, together with manufacturers, have been working hard to resume AN-124 production and to design new versions of this unique freighter aircraft,” said Alexey Isaikin, President of Volga-Dnepr Group.

The new AN-124 is equipped with modern and sophisticated avionics, including Orlan FM 8.33 kHz airborne radio equipment, TCAS-2000 collision avoidance system, RVSM vertical separation system with a 300-meter step, BRNAV-5 area navigation system and ABRIS integrated airborne radio navigation system.

Volga-Dnepr is confident that the new Ruslan will provide new solutions for customers in the air-freight market and further secure Volga-Dnepr’s leadership in the outsize and heavyweight market.

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The AN-124-100 Ruslan is the largest serial transport aircraft ever built. It was designed by Antonov Design Bureau in the late 1970s and performed its first flight in 1982.

The aircraft production involved more than 500 Soviet companies. Aviastar (Ulyanovsk) and Aviant (Kiev) manufacturing plants performed the aircraft assembly then. To the present day, fifty-six AN-124-100 Ruslans have been manufactured and half of them are used in commercial operations.

Volga-Dnepr has 13-years’ experience of successful AN-124-100 commercial operations. In recent years, the outsize and heavyweight air cargo market has achieved an average 15-20-per cent growth rate year-on-year. In 2003, Volga-Dnepr’s market share for worldwide AN-124-100 operations reached 51 percent.

Due to a strong and growing demand for heavyweight operations, the Group is optimistic about the future of the aircraft and has developed a strategy for further modernization of the AN-124 and resumption of its production.