The Antonov An-148 (Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-148) is a regional jet designed and primarily built by the Ukrainian aerospace manufacturer Antonov of Ukraine. Between 2009 and 2018, the An-148 was also being produced on a second production line in Russia by Voronezh Aircraft Production Association; however, production of the type in Russia was discontinued as a consequence of the wider souring political relations between Ukraine and Russia. While the last Russian-built An-148 was completed in October 2018, Ukraine continued to both produce and develop the type.
Development of the aircraft was started in the 1990s, although the An-148 name was not associated to the project prior to 2001. On 17 December 2004, the prototype performed its maiden flight. The aircraft completed its certification programme on 26 February 2007. On 2 June 2009, the first An-148 entered commercial service with the Ukrainian carrier Aerosvit. The largest export customer for the type was the Russian Ministry of Defence, which ordered 15 Russian-produced An-148s. The An-148 has a maximum range of 2,100–4,400 km (1,100–2,400 nmi; 1,300–2,700 mi) and is able to carry 68–85 passengers, depending on the configuration. The Antonov An-158 is a stretched fuselage version of the aircraft, accommodating up to 100 passengers.
Following a crash in February 2018, all An-148 and An-158 in Russia were grounded by the Russian Ministry of Transport. That same year, the Cuban state airline Cubana de Aviación also grounded its An-158 fleet amid reports of technical issues with the aircraft. By the end of 2021, the An-148 reportedly remained in commercial service with a limited number of airlines, including the North Korean state airline Air Koryo, the Russian carrier Angara Airlines, and the Ukrainian start-up Air Ocean Airlines.
The beginning of the An-148 project dates to the early 1990s, when work on modifying the existing Antonov An-74 for passenger duties started, headed by Petro Balabuev. In 2001, the project was redesignated An-148. Changes from the earlier An-74 include the extension of the fuselage and the adoption of a clean-sheet wing design. It was decided to adopt a high-wing design for the An-148 as this would be well-suited to operations from austere airstrips and rough runways; this compatibility was viewed as appealing to certain operators in the remote areas of Russia as well as across Africa and Asia as well.
Another early decision was to power the type using a pair of Ukrainian-build Motor Sich D-436-148 engines. According to Antonov, other variants of the An-148 that were equipped with Western-made engines, producing thrust of 58.86–78.48 kN (6,002–8,003 kgf; 13,230–17,640 lbf) (such as the General Electric CF34 or Rolls-Royce BR700) were openly being considered during the mid 2000s. Around this time, Antonov was reportedly actively pursuing a higher level of Western participation in the An-148 programme; by 2008, 13 Western firms were reportedly involved in aspects of the aircraft. Furthermore, Antonov adopted a Western-style shared risk model for the funding and develop of the An-148, including for its aftersales support model.
In 2002, production of the first three prototypes was begun at AVIANT. On 17 December 2004, the first prototype completed its maiden flight. The second prototype joined the testing programme in April 2005. During the certification programme, the two prototypes performed about 600 flights in total. On 26 February 2007, the aircraft, its D-436-148 engine and the AI-450-МS auxiliary power unit were certified by both the Interstate Aviation Committee of Russia and the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine.
During 2008, Antonov announced that, in response to customer demand, it was launching development of a stretched version of the An-148 regional passenger aircraft, initially referred to as the An-148-200, capable of seating up to 99 passengers in a single-class cabin configuration. In the following year, this stretched model was rebranded as the An-158; furthermore, a proposed business jet derivative, which had been previously referred to as the Sky Cruiser and intended to seat between eight and 41 passengers, had also been rebranded as the An-168. One of the An-148 prototypes, which was dissembled for structural analysis after completing 600 mission during certification trials between December 2004 and February 2007, was subsequently rebuilt as the first An-158. In April 2010, the An-158 prototype performed its first flight; Russian type certification was received in February 2011.
The An-148 was manufactured at both the Ukrainian Kyiv AVIANT plant (now Antonov Serial Production Plant) and Russia's Voronezh Aircraft Production Association (VASO) - the latter was produced under licence from Antonov. Under a production-sharing agreement signed in 2005, Russian enterprises were responsible for producing nearly 70 percent of the aircraft's components while the remainder were sourced from Ukrainian manufacturers; VASO alone supplied the An-148’s tail section, rear fuselage, engine pylons and high-lift devices. In 2009, the list price of the An-148 was about $24–30 million. On 28 June 2009, the first serially produced An-148, manufactured at VASO in Voronezh, took to the skies. A persistent difficulty of the An-148 programme was its slow rate of production, which furthermore proved to be difficult to expand. In light of the then-independent AVIANT plant's initial failure to satisfy growing demand for the An-148, VASO became increasingly involved in the aircraft's manufacture. Between 2009 and 2018, VASO completed a total of 33 An-148s.
During June 2017, VASO announced that the two final Russian-assembled An-148s would be delivered shortly, after which the project would not see further development. In early 2018, Ukraine affirmatively banned sales of Progress D-436 aircraft engines to Russia as a consequence of the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea. During October of that year, it was announced that, amid continued disagreements between Russia and Ukraine that could interfere not only with production but also after-sales support of the type, VASO was formally replacing its An-148 production line with one for the Ilyushin Il-112 instead.
Numerous variants and derivatives were envisioned for the An-148. For Siberian operators, Antonov planned a model with a higher gross weight and additional fuel capacity in the center tank, extending the range with 75 passengers from 2,198 km (1,187 nmi; 1,366 mi) to 3,598 km (1,943 nmi; 2,236 mi). An "E" variant was also planned to offer a special 5,100 km (2,800 nmi; 3,200 mi) range, which would have served as a platform for the "E1", capable of non-stop Moscow-Vladivostok 6,995 km (3,777 nmi; 4,346 mi) services carrying 44 passengers.
The Antonov An-148 is a high-wing monoplane that is powered by a pair of turbofan engines that are mounted in pods under the wing. This arrangement protects the engines and wing structure against foreign object damage. The manufacturer claims high fuel efficiency of the Motor Sich D-436-148 engines. Several features, such as the built-in autodiagnosis system, auxiliary power unit, and the wing configuration, allow the An-148 to be flown to and from austere airstrips. In the cockpit, information from the flight and navigation systems are displayed on five 15 by 20 cm (5.9 by 7.9 in) liquid crystal display panels built by Russia's Aviapribor. The An-148 is equipped with a fly-by-wire flight control system, which enables the An-148 to operate day and night conditions under instrument flight rules on high-density air routes; it can also be flown under visual flight rules under suitable weather conditions. Similar to the Boeing 737, the main landing gear rotates into the belly of the aircraft when in flight, with partial doors covering the legs, and the sides of the tires remaining exposed. The An-148 features a built-in airstair to enable boarding and disembarking the aircraft without extra ground equipment.