Ukraine's new Antonov An-132 made its inaugural flight
The new Ukrainian An-132 transport aircraft took off for the first time on Friday, March 31, reported a correspondent of LB.ua from the Kyiv Svyatoshin airfield.
Later Antonov’s press service reported that the flight lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes. It was performed by a crew of Ukrainian pilots, Viktor Goncharov and Bohdan Zagorulko and engineer Volodymyr Nesterenko. Mohammed Ayash from the Arabian Taqnia Aeronautics was also among the crew.
The An-132D aircraft was developed for Saudi Arabia. Its carrying capacity is 9.2 tons. It is 24.5 meters long, 8.8 meters in height and has a wingspan of 29.2 meters.
Antonov signed a memorandum on the intention to jointly produce eighty An-132 aircraft for Saudi Arabia. Part of the aircraft will be produced in Ukraine—the prototype was assembled at Antonov—but the plane and its components will mainly be manufactured in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The intellectual property ownership of the aircraft is divided equally between the two parties. The cost of the aircraft has not been revealed yet. The decision to sign a firm contract for 80 aircraft will be made after the delivery of the first sample aircraft.
The An-132 is the first Antonov aircraft manufactured without Russian components. The aircraft is designed for flights on the short- and medium-haul routes. It can carry out a wide range of cargo transportation tasks. It will have a cruising speed of 500 km/h and a maximum cruise altitude of 9000 meters with a maximum load of 9.2 tons.