ID :
13685
Thu, 07/24/2008 - 14:21
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/13685
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NATO, EU extend lease of Ukrainian and Russian planes
KIEV, July 24 (Itar-Tass) - NATO and the European Union have extended for two more years a lease contract for Ukrainian and Russian An-124-100 Ruslan aircraft under a joint SALIS program, Konstantin Lushakov, the executive director of the Antonov Airlines, told reporters on Wednesday.
He said all the technical issues had been solved and that all legalmatters would be finished in November.
Lushakov said the participants in the project that unites 18 countries had become convinced of the high efficiency of An-124-100. He didn't rule out that the plane might continue to be in high demand in the NATO and EU countries in the next ten years.
Until now three Ukrainian and two Russian Ruslan planes have been used to airlift cargoes to Afghanistan, Chad and Rwanda. The intensity of airlifts constantly increases.
In 2007, Ukrainian planes flew 1,370 hours under the SALIS program and earned about 15 million euros.
The NATO countries and the European Union leased six An-124-100 Ruslan planes from Russia and Ukraine under a contract signed on March 23, 2006.
The Antonov Airlines and the Russian company Volga-Dnieper set up a joint venture Ruslan-SALIS on a parity basis in Germany in 2004 toimplement the aforesaid project.
He said all the technical issues had been solved and that all legalmatters would be finished in November.
Lushakov said the participants in the project that unites 18 countries had become convinced of the high efficiency of An-124-100. He didn't rule out that the plane might continue to be in high demand in the NATO and EU countries in the next ten years.
Until now three Ukrainian and two Russian Ruslan planes have been used to airlift cargoes to Afghanistan, Chad and Rwanda. The intensity of airlifts constantly increases.
In 2007, Ukrainian planes flew 1,370 hours under the SALIS program and earned about 15 million euros.
The NATO countries and the European Union leased six An-124-100 Ruslan planes from Russia and Ukraine under a contract signed on March 23, 2006.
The Antonov Airlines and the Russian company Volga-Dnieper set up a joint venture Ruslan-SALIS on a parity basis in Germany in 2004 toimplement the aforesaid project.
