An-218 airliner by Antonov ANTK

19k b/w from "Russian Aviation" site

Project of wide-body Airbus-class airliner for mid-range routes was initiated in 1991. It is the first attempt of the Antonov ANTK to develope aircraft of this class. Special attention was paid to aircraft reliability - the plane was designed according to damage tolerance approach: fatigue cracks were not allowed to cause catastrophic failure between scheduled maintenance inspections.

An-218 design includes solutions, technologies and schemes developed for commercial cargo planes An-124 and An-70. Parts and components of series Tu-204 airliner are used. Production was planned at Ukraina in cooperation with Russian aircraft plants.

22k b/w painting from Soviet-Russian Aerospace Memorabilia

Landing gear construction allows to operate An-218 from same airfield used by the Tu-154M and Tu-204. This expands service area from 19 used by the closest analog Il-86 to more than 50. It is estimated that fuel consumption per passenger per km may be almost half of the Il-86. New aircraft also has to surpass Il-86 and Tu-154M on passenger comfort, cargo handling and serviceability.

11k b/w An-218 model photo from Soviet-Russian Aerospace Memorabilia

Perspective modification include long-range variant for 200 to 220 seats and stretched version carrying up to 400 passengers.

On-board electronics and navigation equipment corresponds to IIIA ICAO requirements. Pilots cockpit has high degree of automatization, flight control and monitoring system includes six multi-color multi-functional displays.

An-218 had technical documentation supposed to be ready in 1991, and first flight was scheduled for 1994. C.I.S. certification was planned for 1995.