Ukrainian State Aircraft Building Holding Antonov signed a five-year contract with NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) for the use of An-124-100 aircraft under the Strategic Airlift International Solution (SALIS)).
As noted in the Ukrainian state enterprise, on the part of NATO, this was evidence of the recognition of the high level of quality of services provided by Antonov State Enterprise in air transportation and trust in the Ukrainian partner.
Ukraine and NATO have been cooperating on the SALIS program for almost 16 years, since January 2006. All this time, the Antonov State Enterprise has been ensuring the implementation of strategic air cargo transportation in the interests of the NATO and EU countries. Two An-124-100 aircraft are provided on a permanent basis, the rest are available upon request. The legendary An-22 Antey and An-225 Dream were also used to fulfill certain orders.
The corresponding contract was usually prolonged for a period of two to three years. During a long and fruitful interaction, the countries of the Northern Alliance and the EU became convinced of the professionalism and reliability of the Antonov subsidiary as a partner, and as a result of constructive negotiations between the management of Antonov State Enterprise, Antonov Logistics SALIS GmbH and representatives of NSPA, this year, for the first time, it was signed immediately on 5 years.
At the same time, the main emphasis was placed on the availability of the aircraft of the Antonov State Enterprise a sufficient resource to perform tasks under the SALIS program for the next 5 years and the enterprise's capabilities to further extend the aircraft life.
