The air transportation division of ANTONOV Company – ANTONOV Airlines – saw an 81% revenue increase in 2017 compared to the year before. Moreover, the January to May figures in 2018 were up 42%, with aerospace being one of the key sectors for the Ukrainian airline. The carrier’s growth is the result of its strategic partnership with Dreamlifts Limited and the establishment of its UK headquarters at London Stansted Airport.
ANTONOV Company and Dreamlifts have decades of experience between them; therefore, together, they provided a seamless transition to ANTONOV Airlines customers in the global supply chain.
Furthermore, the heavy lift and super heavy lift operator is also working with Western suppliers for its fleet modernisation programme, which will ensure its aircraft are fit to fly well into the future. As part of the programme, ANTONOV Airlines has increased the payload of two of its AN-124 airframes from 120 to 150 tonnes and will continue to expand this across the remaining five airframes in due course.
Under the Open Skies Agreement between Ukraine and the USA, ANTONOV Airlines is the only AN-124 operator to be granted a blanket exemption for unlimited flights to and from the USA. The agreement allows ANTONOV Airlines to carry any type of cargo to or from the US with only a few hours’ notice without the need to obtain U.S. Department of Transport (DoT) statements of authorisation.
The fleet operated by ANTONOV Airlines includes seven AN-124-100 ‘Russian’ aircraft with up to 150 tonnes payload, its 60-tonne payload AN-22, the world’s largest turboprop powered aircraft, and its unique 250-tonne payload AN-225 ‘Mriya’, the largest aircraft in the world, as well as smaller AN-74 and AN-26 aircraft.
ANTONOV Airlines specialises in the transport of outsized and project cargo worldwide. 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.
