MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Air Force will hand over five AN-124 Condor military transport planes to Atlant- Soyuz Airlines, Valery Menitsky, chairman of the company's board of directors and advisor to the Moscow mayor, said on Thursday.
"Under an accord between the Moscow city government, Altant- Soyuz Airlines and the Air Force Command, Altant-Soyuz will receive five AN-124 military transport planes," Menitsky told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"These are the planes written off from Russia's regular military transport aviation units," he added.
"The planes will undergo capital restoration repairs and be upgraded to the AN-124-100 certified transport variety at the Aviastar JS in Ulyanovsk," Menitsky said.
"Even though no agreements have been signed, the Aviastar-SP company has already launched capital restoration repairs and upgrade of the first out of five AN-124s. Work on the first plane will take about 1.5 to two months, work on the next two up to six months, and on the other two nine to 11 months," he said.
Menitsky stressed that "the five AN-124s that will be handed over to the airline remain in the Air Force reserve and must be returned to the military on their demand."
Upgrade of the AN-124 to the AN-124-100 level will not affect the possible use of the planes for military cargo transportation and hardware airlift by the Air Force.
"The cost of upgrade and repairs is estimated at about USD10m per plane. The cost includes fitting the plane with new and upgraded onboard equipment that allows it, in particular, to fly international air routes, as well as with improved D-18T engines," Menitsky said.
"Flight and technical personnel of the Air Force are likely to be used during the AN-124-100 operation with the goal to maintain and improve their professional skills," he added.
According to experts, Russian Volga-Dnepr and Polyot airlines have nine and three AN-124-100 planes respectively. Ukraine's Avialiniya Antonova has seven more planes of this make. The Russian Air Force operates 25 AN-124 military transport planes, and Libya operates another two.