ANTONOV Airlines’ new multipurpose aircraft, the AN-132D, took to the skies for its maiden flight on March 31, 2017, from the company’s airfield in Kiev, Ukraine.

The first prototype of the new aircraft flew for 1 hour and 50 minutes captained by ANTONOV test pilot 1st class, Victor Goncharov, accompanied by test pilot General Mohammed Ayash of the Taqnia Aeronautics Company, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, co-piloted by ANTONOV test pilot, 2nd class, Bohdan Zagoruyko. Volodymyr Nesterenko, a leading ANTONOV test flight engineer, was also on board the flight, which was escorted by a new AN-178 jet transport.

The AN-132 programme is being developed following a contract with a customer from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in close cooperation with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and the Тaqnia Aeronautics Co. Leading suppliers of the global aircraft industry are involved in the project.

The AN-132D was met by Piotr Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, and the aircraft creators at the ANTONOV Company’s flight test base. The head of the state thanked the participants of the programme and said in particular: «I am proud of my compatriots, thousands of employees of ANTONOV Company and other enterprises of Ukraine, who have worked and will do a lot to launch series production of this aircraft. But today the important event was happened – our aircraft rose into the sky. I saw the aircraft landing. It was well done»!

Oleksandr Kotsiuba, President of ANTONOV, congratulated colleagues and partners on the successful completion of this stage of the programme’s development.

According to him, the next important step will be the presentation of the AN-132D in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which will be conducted after the completion of more aircraft tests.

In his turn Dr. Khaled Abdullah Alhussain, Director of National Aerospace Technology Center of King Abdulaziz City Science and Technology, emphasized importance of AN-132 for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He expressed confidence, that the sky of his country will meet this aircraft hospitably and will become a native for it.

The AN-132 multipurpose turboprop aircraft is intended for operation on short and medium-haul routes.

The new aircraft will perform various tasks including the transportation of raw materials, mail and other cargo, including bulk cargo, ULDs and light self-propelled and non-self-propelled vehicles weighing up to 9.2 tonnes.

The aircraft will also be deployed for emergencies, including civilian and casualty evacuation from disaster areas and airdropping paratroop rescue teams.

On December 20, 2016, rollout ceremony of the AN-132D aircraft-demonstrator, the first prototype of a new AN-132D multipurpose transport, was held. It will take a proper place in the line of the world-known ANTONOV transport aircraft.

Programme of the AN-132D creation is realized in accordance with the contract with the customer from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), in close cooperation with King Abdulaziz City Science and Technology (KACST) and Тaqnia Aeronautics Co. Enterprises of aircraft industry of Ukraine and leading suppliers of world aviation industry are involved in the project. In this programme ANTONOV Company represents Ukraine as an integrator of international cooperation, holder of high technologies.

Paying high attention to this event on the international level, the officials took part in the rollout ceremony, including: Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, and His Highness, Prince of KSA Turki Saud Mohammed Al Saud, representatives of governments of both countries, deputies of Ukraine, representatives of diplomatic missions of different countries.

The President of Ukraine gave a command to roll out the aircraft.

In his speech at the ceremony, Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, thanked ANTONOV’s team for conscientious works and said in particular: «This event is a result of productive, energetic work of ANTONOV Company and dozens of other enterprises of aircraft industry of Ukraine. This is our joint victory! AN-132D is a real international project. For the first time so many leading company of the world aviation field take part in development of the multipurpose transport aircraft. We are obliged to our partners from Canada, Great Britain, USA, Germany, France and other countries, which participate in creation of this new competitive aircraft. So, on the AN-132D platform we gathered cluster the best companies of the world aviation industry».

The AN-132D rollout ceremony was conducted under presence of heads of the companies-partners, including Doctor Khaled Abdullah Alhussain, Director of National Aerospace Technology Center of KACST, and Major General (retired) Ali M. Alghamdi, Chief executive officer (CEO) of Тaqnia Aeronautics Co.

According to Unian news agency, Ukraine’s state-owned enterprise Antonov, the only Ukrainian designer and manufacturer of cargo and passenger planes, completes the work on the assembly of the first An-132 aircraft.

Photos have been published on Facebook, confirming that the plane is almost ready: its fuselage has been fully assembled, as well as wings and engines manufactured by Pratt & Whitney Canada have been installed. As UNIAN reported earlier, the aircraft will be rolled out from a hangar in December.

Oleksandr Khokhlov, the director of the An-132 program and deputy chief designer at Antonov, earlier said in an interview with UNIAN that in the framework of the contract with the Arabian KACST, the company plans to send the first aircraft An-132 to the customer, Saudi Arabia, in the first quarter of 2017.

State-owned Antonov is the manufacturer of cargo and passenger aircraft, as well as special purpose aircraft. Among the company’s most recognized projects are the An-32, An-148, An-158, An-74, An-124, An-70 and An-225.

ANTONOV Company has completed major assembly of the AN-132D aircraft-demonstrator. The tail unit was mounted on the aircraft. So, the airframe of the aircraft has been assembled: fuselage, wing and tail unit have been joined.

PW150A engines of Pratt & Whitney Canada to be delivered in April. Cooperation agreement of the AN-132 programme was signed with this company in October 2015.

The programme of the AN-132 light multipurpose aircraft of a new generation is realized by ANTONOV Company together with KACST, King Abdulaziz City Science and Technology, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The AN-132, intended for operation on short- and medium-haul routes, will perform various missions on cargo transportation and implement different layouts of the aircraft cargo cabin. The AN-132 will have cruising speed up to 270 knots/311 mph/500 km/h, cruising flight altitude up to 29,528 feet/9,000 m, payload up to 20,282.5 lbs/9.2 t.