Azernews.Az

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Airlines has signed a preliminary agreement with the Russian "Ilyushin Finance Co." (IFC) on leasing of AN-124-100 aircraft, IFC website reported.

Conditions of the delivery have not yet been disclosed. The solid agreement is expected to be signed within 30 days. Talks on the delivery of aircraft have lasted 6 month. Closing date for the delivery is the first quarter of 2017.

President of Silk Way Group Zaur Akhundov talking to Ato.ru said that the aircrafts are used for the transportation of special freight. Moreover, the aircraft can also be used in the implementation of oil and gas projects.

The aircraft has double-deck arrangement. Upper deck is comprised of the cabins for flight and relief crew as well as for accompanying persons. Lower deck represents an air-locked freight cabin which allows transporting of cargo to the distance of up to 5,000 kilometers.

Talking about the procedures of technical maintenance the head of Silk Way Airlines said that Ulyanovsk possesses good infrastructure for the provision of technical service. “Preventive maintenance procedures will be implemented in Ulyanovsk,” he added.

Up to now, Silk Way Airlines were operating IL-76 cargo aircrafts which are considered to be less capacious. The new type of aircraft is expected to let the airline to increase its competitive advantage and strengthen positions in the market of cargo transportation. Akhundov also underlined the carrying capacity of IL-76 is insufficient for the fulfillment of certain orders.

“We have an experience in the operation of IL-76 on charter programs. We have many orders from Europe and the South-East Asia. As many as 80 percent of transportations fall to a share of commercial freight,” he said.

Akhundov said that the airline wants to expand the park of IL-76 aircraft. “The problem that we face in this regard is that the volume of output of the aircrafts does not even meet the needs of the state budgetary agencies of the Russian Federation.”

He also underlined that the carrier has terminated the operation of AN-12 aircrafts as the running turned out to be unprofitable due to difficult maintenance procedures.

Silk Way Airlines has also signed a contract on the acquisition of AN-178 aircrafts. The delivery is scheduled for 2018. The contract envisages delivery of 2 aircrafts.

Silk Way Airlines is a cargo airline with its head office and flight operations at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku. It operates freight services linking Europe and Asia, as well as services for government and non-governmental organizations.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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