The Antonov An-140 is a turboprop regional airliner, designed by the Antonov ASTC bureau as a successor to the Antonov An-24, with extended cargo capacity and the ability to use unprepared airstrips.
Since its introduction in 2002 (out of 35 built), the Antonov An-140 has been involved in five accidents and incidents, including four hull-loss accidents, resulting in 111 occupant fatalities. Of the aircraft lost, three were HESA IrAn-140 aircraft built in Iran from knock-down kits supplied by Antonov.
What makes it special is that, there is now just 1 An-140 in commercial airline service today. It is with Motor Sich Airlines which is based in Zaporizhia, Ukraine. The airline frequently changed this aircraft deployment due to supply/demand which makes it very difficult to pin down to its schedule and buy a ticket to fly.
Our group originally booked An-140 flights from Zaporizhia to Kiev as part of the Ukraine Grand Aviation Tour but the plane type changed to An-24 last minute. A few of us really wanted to fly once on the An-140, we bought last minute ticket to Minsk from Zaporizhia.
Here is a picture report of what's it like to fly on the An-140.
Once entered the plane via rear door, passenger can store trolley bags into a baggage compartment.
The An-140 has a capacity of 52 passengers, we have about 40 passengers to Minsk on our flight. (Most of them transit via Minsk to Russia, since there are no direct airlinks between Ukraine and Russia nowadays)
We tookoff on-time at 6:45am and flying low lover the vast field of Ukraine.
After 20 minutes the clear sky paved away to overcast sky. The An-140 cruised at around 20,000 feet which was below the clouds. I could hear different pitch of the turboprop engines from time to time and the plane vibrated a fair bit.
The plane was cruising fairly steady despite in heavy cloud coverage area. The vibration was slightly more than western built turboprop. The engine noise was fairly loud and substantial.
The photo below is made from Row 4A.
A simple snack, tea/coffee is served on this 2 hours 15 minutes sector. There is only one flight attendant on-board.
The best seat on the Motor Sich An-140 is row 2, which is an exit row with more leg room.
Row 1 feature reverse facing seating, like the ATR-42.
We landed at Minsk on-time. It was a fairly ordinary flight but the thrill of bagging a rare type overwhelm everything else! We were allowed to visit cockpit before rushed off from the remote stand by bus to terminal at Minsk.
For those who are really interested to fly on this rare little turboprop, I suggest you make a trip to Zaporizhia and ask Motor Sich office about the flight plan.
You can find her flights on FlightRadar24 here.
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