The new Ukraine-Russia An-148 regional jet aircraft will be offered in a tender to supply aircraft for the fleet of the administration of the President of Russian Federation, the press service of Antonov Design Bureau (the aircraft's developer) has told Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

Apart from An-148, Russia's Tu-134 and SuperJet aircraft will also take part in the tender.

The estimated order is six aircraft. The date for announcing the result of the tender and the supply terms are unknown so far.

The new An-148 regional jet aircraft is being built by Ukraine and Russia with use of advanced aviation technologies from leading aircraft makers, including those from the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. More than 240 companies from 14 countries are involved in the project.

In February 2008, the An-148 aircraft received an airworthiness certificate from the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC). The work is being carried regarding validation of the certificate by the European Aviation Safety Agency (ЕА SA).

The portfolio of firm contracts until 2012 is estimated at over 50 planes. Among the customers are GTK Rossiya, Air Union Group (Krasnoyarsk), the Volga-Dnepr Group, the Polyot air company (Voronezh) and the Moskovia air company.

The Voronezh Aircraft Society (VASO) is to produce the aircraft in Russia.

The main competitor of the AN-148 is the Russian SuperJet, which is still undergoing certification tests.

AeroSvit-Ukrainian Airlines will be the first airline to start exploiting An-148 aircraft, on its regional flights.