Aircraft

Ukraine’s Antonov An-225 has emerged from an overhaul in Kiev to claim a record airlift at Frankfurt Hahn Airport.

Antonov Airlines’ An-225 is the sole example of the heavy-lift freighter, the world’s largest operational aircraft.

It has been repainted with a new livery featuring the blue and yellow national colours of Ukraine and appeared at Hahn on 11 August. The aircraft transported a 16.2m (53ft)-long generator destined for a gas plant in Armenia.

© MB Aviation Images

The generator weighed 187.6t – although the loading frame increased this to just under 190t – which Hahn Airport’s operator claims is the heaviest single-piece cargo ever transported by air.

After a period of dormancy the An-225, which is powered by six Ivchenko Progress D-18 engines, returned to commercial service in 2001 after extensive refitting and has since been available for specialised ad hoc heavy transport work.

Work to build a second An-225 airframe was abandoned and while discussions have occasionally taken place over possible completion, there has been no advancement in construction.