Although reliability and performance are always mentioned in promotional material for business jets, Russian planemaker Antonov has carved out a pretty difficult niche for competitors of its Antonov Business Jet to match. “The head of Russia’s Business Aviation lobby Maksim Fedotov admits he’d rather have [a well-known business jet] than a domestic jet,” Russia Today is reporting. “But on a Siberian gas field at minus 50 degrees Celsius, he says, only a Russian plane can be trusted to start and take off.
And while other makers might argue with that sentiment, the high-wing Antonov with wing-mounted engines out of the path of most debris that might be stirred up by the wheels does appear to be less vulnerable to FOD damage although to what degree is likely debatable. For the record, Fedotov claims the Antonov is 270 times less likely to get a rock in the blades but there’s no indication where that claim comes from. Another sales pitch from Antonov, which showed off the jet at the recent Domodedovo Airshow is that its airplane is cheaper than others of comparable size and that the lack of service network means sales have been slow and there are delivery slots available in 2010, compared to 2013 for the earliest deliveries from other companies … .
