Air Koryo, North Korea's national airline, has added to its fleet the first one of the two new Ukrainian-Russian An-148 regional jets.

The first An-148-100, which was assembled at Antonov State Enterprise in cooperation with Voronezh Aircraft Production Association (VASO, Russia), was sent to North Korea in early February under the contract signed in July 2010, an informed source in Ukraine's aviation industry told Interfax-Ukraine.

"The delivery of the second aircraft, which is being built in Kyiv under the contract with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is planned for spring or summer," he said

The plane sent to Air Koryo will be the sixteenth An-148 aircraft delivered to customers under the An-148 program, the source said.

The Antonov An-148 is a regional jet aircraft able to carry 68-85 passengers for a distance of 2,000-4,400 kilometers.

The aircraft are built at the Antonov mass production plant (Kyiv), a branch of the Antonov State Enterprise, jointly with OAO VASO (Voronezh, Russia).

Exploitation of An-148 started in 2009.