Boeing steps in to help Ukrainian manufacturer of world's biggest plane – media

The firm had ceased production because of its heavy reliance on Russian imports, which had collapsed after Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014, CNBC TV Channel reported.

But, Boeing's parts, equipment and services unit, Aviall, is set to now provide the components and Antonov plans to build eight aircraft a year from the end of next year. The deal, which was signed at the Farnborough International Airshow, was confirmed to CNBC via email on Friday.

President of Antonov, Oleksandr Donets, told Reuters in an interview that the next step is to build a storage facility with Aviall.

"This warehouse will deal with products, materials, metals, non-metals — with all components we are not able to get from our former partner, the Russian Federation," he said.

Donets added that the warehouse would be funded by the Boeing subsidiary.

Antonov builds a range of passenger, cargo and transport aircraft. The latest under development is the An-132, a twin-engined turboprop used for military transportation which is being jointly developed with Saudi Arabia.