A Ukrainian passenger plane carrying aerospace experts crashed in Iran on Monday killing all 46 people on board, the Iranian transport minister said. Iranian television said the passengers were senior Ukrainian aircraft industry officials traveling to the Iranian city of Isfahan to test a new plane. "All 46 passengers including the crew have been killed. I am very sorry," Transport Minister Ahmad Khorram told Reuters in Islamabad.

The plane, carrying 42 passengers and four crew, originated in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and refueled in the Black Sea city of Trabzon in northeastern Turkey, said an airport official there. No passengers boarded the plane, flight AHW 2137, in Trabzon, he said.

Iran has been manufacturing the Antonov-140 aircraft, dubbed Iran-140, under a license from Ukraine in Isfahan. The 52-seat twin-turboprop had its first public test flight in February 2001.

"It was the same model plane that we are developing with Ukraine, but I don't think the crash will affect this project," Khorram said.

Iranian radio quoted the managing director of the Iranian HESA aircraft-building company as saying the passengers were to take part in the test flight ceremony of the 140 in Isfahan on Tuesday.

Some reports said the passengers were Turkish and Ukrainian nationals.

It said the Antonov plane lost contact with the ground close to the airport. It went down 45 miles from Ardestan, south of Tehran, crashing at 1600 GMT according to one Iranian radio.

AGING FLEET

Iranian airlines are seeking to refurbish their aging fleet and meet rising passenger volumes despite financial troubles and U.S. sanctions which bar sales of Boeing aircraft to the Islamic Republic.

Ukraine sold the production license for the An-140 to Iran in 2000, the only foreign market its cash-strapped aircraft producers had managed to enter.

The An-140 aircraft was designed by the Antonov aircraft design factory outside the Ukrainian capital Kiev and assembled at plants in Ukraine, Russia and Iran.

With the first models completed only in 2000, the aircraft is currently being used by Ukrainian airlines and enjoys a reputation of being both quiet and economical.

With a range of 1,300 miles, the turboprop was largely intended in the former Soviet Union to replace the aging fleet of An-24 aircraft used on short and medium-range routes.

The turbo-prop has a range of 1,300 miles at a cruising speed of up to 575 kph. Priced at 9 million each according to Iranian media, it is one of the world's cheapest medium-range aircraft.

More than 100 Russian and Ukrainian enterprises are reportedly involved in Iran's production of the An-140, with some 80 percent of parts coming from Russia.

The plane was assembled at an aircraft factory linked to Iran's Defense Ministry with help from Ukrainian specialists. The production line has cost Iran DLRS 273 million and is to have a capacity to assemble 12 aircraft annually.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Ukrainian passenger plane carrying aerospace experts has crashed in central Iran, killing 46 pe