Russian state Airline ROSSIYA, the only current user of the Antonov AN148 regional airliner, has criticized the aircraft's reliability as unacceptable and listed a string of problems including door locks, engine and APU failures. The reliability of the AN148 cannot guarantee a sufficient level of in-flight safety, Rossiya said in a statement. The Airline has been using the aircraft since June. In the 3 months to September, including aircrew training flights, the carrier's 5 AN148 aircraft flew 1725h with Rossiya. In that time, 235 problems occurred, requiring over 2000 man-hours of repair work. In 1 92 day period, 1 aircraft was unfit to fly for 89 days, Rossiya said. Rossiya says that incidence of technical failure in its fleet occurred once every 344 hours in the AN148, every 5355 hours in its Airbuses, and 2824 hours in its Boeing 737s. The Airline listed 5 incidents in 3 months with the AN148's undercarriage, electrical supply system and its flight control system, which has caused particular problems with 31 failures in the 3 month period. Rossiya said that remedial work to fix the aircraft did not improve reliability. The Airline said the aircraft requires 3.8 times more man-hours of Class A maintenance than its 50 hour specified amount. Ilyushin Finance, which markets the aircraft, says the issues with the aircraft are normal problems for a new design. Rossiya has called for establishment of a working after-sales care service for the aircraft by Antonov's parent, Russia's United Aircraft Corporation. The Airline's complaints come just days after another client for the aircraft, ATLANT-SOYUZ, said it was considering buying the Sukhoi Superjet instead of the AN148s it has on order.
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