“Launching a national airline carrier, reviving the aircraft industry, opening new modern airports. These are our goals for the coming years,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyi stated. However, the ideas of setting up a national airline carrier and reviving the Ukrainian aircraft industry do not stick together. This is because the Ministry for Infrastructure has signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with Airbus, which provides for leasing or purchasing 22 airplanes.

Oleksandr Saienko, Reserve Colonel, Military Expert Analyst of NAKO notes that the narrow-body A220 airplane is a competitor of Ukrainian An-158. However, a locally manufactured aircraft costs USD 30 million, while an Airbus would cost USD 76 million. And Airbus is ousting Antonov from international markets.

Contracts that large remain a sacred dream for Ukrainian manufacturers. They could revive the industry and attract new export deals, the expert maintains. 

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