Civilian An-22s in the World
UR-09307 is the one and only. What I heard is that years ago, the Antonov Design Bureau had a project to repair and upgrade a number of old grounded An-22s to put them up for sale. UR-09307 was meant to be the demonstrator aircraft. There is at least one other An-22 at the Antonov plant in Kiev that showed signs of having received some repairs, later abandoned.
In the end, either there were no takers for the refitted An-22 and Antonov had to compete with some Russian businessmen who discovered that the old grounded An-22s were worth a fortune in scrap titanium, more than Antonov could pay for them.
For a reason I ignore, they seem not to be allowed in the US although they are a common sight in Western Europe.
Maybe now that the oversize market is growing at a fast pace and that the resumption of An-124 production is still far from becoming a reality, an updated and refusbished An-22 just might be a cheap and attractive alternative for certain carriers that need near An-124 volume with less payload (and that can land on un-paved runways)
Last edited by Minorite invisible; 24th October 2009 at 17:05.