April 28 is the 15th anniversary of the AN-158 regional airliner

April 28 marked the 15th anniversary of the AN-158 regional airliner. On that day in 2010, its first prototype took off at Kyiv's Sviatoshyn airfield.

The airplane was created by the team of the Antonov Company (since April 2024 - Joint Stock Company) on the basis of the previous AN-148. The new airplane features an elongated fuselage and wingtips (winglets) on the wing. Due to its high degree of unification with the AN-148, the airplane quickly passed the tests and received the type certificate on February 28, 2011.

Production of the airplane began at the Antonov Production Plant, which is now integrated into Antonov JSC. The cooperation involved 215 companies from 15 countries. Ukrainian enterprises played a very important role. For example, the engines developed by Zaporizhzhia's Progress were supplied by Motor Sich JSC, which is also located in Zaporizhzhia.

The AN-158 in its basic version can accommodate 99 passengers. Another 12 configurations with a different number of seats up to 102 inclusive have been certified. The aircraft is powered by two D-436-148 turbofan engines with a thrust of 6700 kgf each. It has a length of 31.63 m, a wingspan of 28.91 m, a maximum takeoff weight of 43700 kg, a cruising speed of 870 km/h, and a practical range of 2600 km.

Like the previous Antonov passenger aircraft, the new airliner is adapted for operation at regional airports with underdeveloped infrastructure and poor runways. It is intended to be used in various climatic conditions at air temperatures from -55 to +45 degrees C. At a base price of USD 25 million (as of 2011), the aircraft will be able to operate in different climatic conditions. USD (as of 2011), the aircraft attracted many operators. According to Antonov JSC, customers from different countries expressed their intentions to purchase about 100 aircraft. Already in April 2013, the first AN-158 was delivered to Cubana de Aviacion, a Cuban airline.

However, a significant share of orders came from Russia, and Russian companies were involved in production cooperation. This had extremely negative consequences for the AN-158 program after the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014. As a result, only 7 of these aircraft have been built so far, 6 of which were delivered to Cubana de Aviacion.