The Aviastar-SP plant in Ulyanovsk, one of the largest enterprises in Russia's
aircraft-building industry, is resuming series production of An-124 Ruslan
jumbo aircraft, the world's largest production airplane.

The regional government's press service told the Itar-Tass agency on
Wednesday, Aug. 31, that Valeriy Savotchenko, the executive director of
Aviastar-SP, made a statement to this effect at the Meet in 1,000-year-old
Kazan exhibition.

The An-124 Ruslan heavy cargo jumbo aircraft has no analogues in the world.
The plane can carry up to 150 tons of cargo a distance of up to 5,000 km.
Aviastar-SP has produced 36 Ruslan aircraft in the last 20 years. The
implementation of the project to resume series production of the An-124
aircraft got under way at the recently held MAKS-2005 international air
show, where a trilateral agreement was signed between Aviastar-SP and the
Volga-Dnepr and Polet airline companies. The Ulyanovsk plant is expected to
produce five aircraft for each company by the year 2012.

Savotchenko said the Ulyanovsk aircraft-building plant was fully prepared to
resume production of Ruslan aircraft. If it is provided with all the
required funds in full, the enterprise will deliver two An-124 aircraft to
its customers within a short deadline. Taking into account the demand for
this aircraft in other countries, a total of 50 aircraft need to be built.

Ric