Antonov An-124 Benefits From A-400M Delay

Austrian military contingent arriving Kabul

The two major operators of Antonov An124-100 aircraft are benefiting from the continued delays to the Airbus military A400M program.

On Dec 17th the budget committee of the German Bundestag agreed to extend the SALIS – Strategic Airlift Interim Solution – contract by two years to 31 December 2010.  The initial contract was intended to end in January 2009, however delays in the A400M programme has made the extension of the SALIS programme necessary due to increased demand for airlift by NATO European countries.

The present contract was signed between NAMSA (NATO Maintenance and Support Agency) representing NATO and Ruslan SALIS GmbH, representing ANTONOV ASTC of Ukraine and Volga-Dnepr Airlines of Russia, the two largest operators of the civil An-124-100 aircraft.

Under the contract, two AN-124-100 aircraft are constantly based in Leipzig/ Germany airport. Another 4 machines are provided on demand within a fixed timescale.

Eighteen NATO and EU countries take part in this programme with lead-management being a German responsibility. The aircraft are reserved for these nations participating in the project who can use them for military as well as humanitarian transport.

The SALIS contract has consistently run ahead of contracted utilisation levels and has successfully provided the necessary airlift capability for NATO and European Union nations for airlift of heavy military equipment and soldiers.

While Antonov and the various Russian and Ukrainian partners in the An-124 program may regret the polical/industrial influences that have prevented the partner nations from simply committing to buy the Antonov product and build real industrial links between Europe and the CIS, they continue to benefit from simply meeting the customers needs while their customer struggles to get another supplier on board.