The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24; NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 50-seat twin turboprop regional airliner designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau. Later variants saw other uses, such as military transport and aerial cartography. The aircraft was manufactured by the Kyiv, Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude Aviation Factories. It is still license-produced in China as the Xi'an Y-7.
The An-24 was the first of a future family of turboprops by Antonov. The first variant was the An-30, which came equipped with a cartographic configuration. It was then followed by the An-26, which was a more militarized version of the airliner. The final variant was the An-32, which was given more modernized equipment and powerful engines. The An-132 was the result of a joint venture between Antonov and Saudi Arabia's Taqnia to develop a modernized version of the An-24 family, but Taqnia left the project and the only prototype was destroyed, which led to the project being cancelled.
First flown in 1959, the An-24 is powered by two Ivchenko AI-24 turboprop engines, and was produced in some 1,000 units of various versions; in 2023, 93 were still in service worldwide, mostly in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Africa.
It was designed to replace the veteran piston Ilyushin Il-14 transport on short- to medium-haul trips, optimised for operating from rough strips and unprepared airports in remote locations. The high-wing layout protects engines and blades from debris, the power-to-weight ratio is higher than that of many comparable aircraft, and the machine is rugged, requiring minimal ground-support equipment.
Due to its rugged airframe and good performance, the An-24 was adapted to perform many secondary missions, such as ice reconnaissance and engine/propeller test bed, as well as further development to produce the An-26 tactical transport, An-30 photo-mapping/survey aircraft and An-32 tactical transport with more powerful engines. Various projects were envisaged such as a four-jet, short- and medium-haul airliner and various iterations of powerplant.
The main production line was at the Kyiv-Svyatoshino (later renamed "Aviant") aircraft production plant, which built 985, with 180 built at Ulan Ude, and a further 197 An-24T tactical transport/freighters at Irkutsk. Production in the USSR was shut down by 1978.
Production continued at China's Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation, which made licensed, reverse-engineered, and redesigned aircraft as the Xian Y-7 and its derivatives. Manufacture of the Y-7, in civil form, has now been supplanted by the MA60 derivative with western engines and avionics, to improve performance and economy, and widen the export appeal.
These were the first production aircraft, with a total of six built between 1959 and 1961. They were primarily used for testing the aircraft's instruments and landing gear, and also for ground tests and de-icing tests.
Seventeen were built. This was the first production model, separate from the prototypes built between 1959 and 1961. It was approved for production on 19 August 1961, and test engineering flights with passengers took place in September 1962. It entered service between Kiev and Kherson on 31 October 1962. Later, it was decided to replace them with improved models, and all of them were exported to Cuba and used as military transports by the Cuban Air Force. After being used as transports to replace the An-2, two were released to civilian airlines.
200 were built (9 in 1962, 191 in 1963) of this improved version, delivered directly from the Kiev factory. It seated 44 passengers and had a larger interior volume. In addition, the APU exhaust was moved to the tip of the starboard nacelle. This was the second time the designation was used.
400 aircraft were built in the second production version. A passenger version with seating for up to 52. Maximum takeoff weight was increased to 21 tonnes, a window was added on each side, the double slotted flaps were replaced with single slotted flaps, and the centre chord was extended to compensate for the poor performance of the flaps. Some aircraft were delivered with four additional fuel bladders in the centre wing. Production began in 1964.
An-24T (Transportnyy – transport)
This is the second time this name has been used for a tactical transport aircraft. It is equipped with a ventral loading hatch, a cargo winch, and an escape hatch behind the nose landing gear, and its mission is to transport airborne troops and infantry to frontline bases.
An-24RT (Reaktivnyy [Uskoritel'] Transportnyy – boosted transport)
Similar to the AN-24T, fitted with an auxiliary turbojet engine.
An-24PRT (Poiskovo-spasahtel'nyy Reaktivnyy [Uskoritel'] Transportnyy – SAR boosted transport)
The An-24RT was the basis for the search and rescue aircraft, of which 11 were manufactured, and was fitted with rescue equipment and exploration devices in the cabin. Both were considered important due to their ability to stay in the air.
An-24RV (Reaktivnyy [Uskoritel'] V – boosted V)