Ukraine set to liquidate world famous aircraft manufacturer Antonov

The world famous Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov renowned for producing the world’s biggest airliners An-124 Ruslan and An-225 Mriya will cease to exist, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade reported on Wednesday.

According to the Ukrainian government’s decision, Antonov will be liquidated while enterprises integrated into the aircraft manufacturer will be assigned to the state defense group Ukroboronprom. The government has taken this decision "due to the absence of participants" as all the three enterprises, which actually made up the aircraft manufacturer, quit it already last year to be integrated into Ukroboronprom, the ministry’s press office said. Therefore, the government has legally brought the situation into compliance with the real state of things. The Ukrainian government has also instructed the Economic Development and Trade Ministry to set up a liquidation commission and liquidate the Antonov Group.

The Antonov Group earlier comprised the Antonov enterprise, the Kharkov State Aviation Enterprise and the Plant 410 Civil Aviation State Enterprise in Kiev. On September 14, 2015, the Antonov Group was already withdrawn from the United Aircraft-Manufacturing Corporation-Antonov joint venture between Russia and Ukraine, which dealt with the development of new airliners. The aviation experimental and design bureau led by designer Oleg Antonov was set up at the Novosibirsk aviation factory on May 31, 1946. In 1952, it moved to Kiev where it started to develop military transport and passenger planes of the Antonov family. Until recently, the Antonov Group was developing a new An-178 plane. Media reports said earlier the Antonov Group would now engage in the production of drones for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.