One of ANTONOV Airlines’ AN-124-100 aircraft has transported a power plant rotor from Genoa, Italy to Karachi, Pakistan. The cargo, which included the rotor and associated equipment, weighed a total of 108 tonnes.

“Careful planning was necessary to guarantee the safe loading and unloading of the rotor, and this was only possible thanks to the seamless collaboration between ANTONOV Airlines, the historical Italian freight broker Compagnia Merci Aeree Srl (CMA), and the shipper, FRACHT IT,” said Martin Griffiths, Commercial Manager, ANTONOV Airlines.

After an upgrade on two of ANTONOV Airlines’ seven AN-124-100 aircrafts, the company was able to operate then and their designed maximum payload of 150 tonnes.

“Energy was among our stronger sectors in 2017, accounting for 11 per cent of our total output,” said Martin Griffiths. “We saw a record 139% increase in tonnes-km of energy cargo carried, which also included four flights from Slovenia to Mexico providing more than 60 megawatts of power, and 41 flights from the USA to Puerto Rico, with over 80% of cargo carried being energy related.”

ANTONOV Airlines specialises in the transport of outsized and project cargo worldwide using its fleet of seven AN-124-100 “Ruslan” aircraft with up to 150 tonnes payload, its 60-tonne payload AN-22, and its unique 250-tonne payload AN-225 “Mriya”, which is the largest aircraft in the world, as well as smaller AN-74 and AN-26 aircraft.

More than 28 years after launching as the first company to offer the AN-124-100 commercially, ANTONOV Airlines continues to deliver air cargo solutions across the aerospace, defence, energy, humanitarian, industrial, automotive, and oil and gas sectors.

ANTONOV Airlines is a division of ANTONOV Company, headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine, and a Ukrainian state-owned enterprise, which designs, develops, produces and maintains the AN aircraft. The UK office of ANTONOV Airlines is based at Diamond Hangar, London Stansted Airport, while The US office of ANTONOV Airlines is based at Houston, Texas.