President Poroshenko calls cooperation with Boeing 'a sign of Ukrainian independence in aviation’
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko welcomed agreements between concern Antonov and American corporation Boeing on the supply of parts. According to the Ukrainian president, such an agreement is a “sign of independence in aviation” from Russia.
“These agreements are a sign of our independence from Russia in aviation and confirmation of a strategic course of cooperation between the US and EU”, Poroshenko wrote on Twitter.
The supplies are for An-148, An-158, An-178 aicraft.
It was reported earlier that Antonov and a subdivision of Boeing, Aviall, signed an agreement on cooperation in the production of aircraft.
Poroshenko also stated earlier that Russia was excluded from the list of countries producing parts for the Ukrainian An-178 aircraft.
In 2016, Antonov planned to completely abandon Russian components. Ukrainian authorities set out to begin mass production of domestic airplanes for export, as well as for purchase by Ukrainian airlines. However, due to a lack of money to replace Russian components from Antonov, not one aircraft was produced in 2016, and for the two previous years, only two were produced. At the same time, even before Kyiv attempted to break all ties with Russia, Antonov produced 11 aircraft in 2011.