Page 54 - World Airnews Magazine March 2021

CARGO

ANTONOV AN-124 CARRIES

54 TONNE GENERATOR

By Pranjal Pande

The Antonov An-124 made an interesting journey this week, flying from Accra, Ghana, to Mumbai, India, and
back again. The specialized freighter was carrying an oversized power generator which required urgent repairs.
As demand for air cargo soars, planes like the An-124 have seen themselves flying missions globally.
The An-124’s design allows it to carry out missions with oversized cargo. Photo: Getty Images

However, Antonov and Rhenus Project the Ukrainian-made jet for service in
Logistics have a decades-long relationship, December, a month later.
explaining the priority status.
An An-124 was chartered from Speaking about the mission, Antonov The loss of the An-124 from the carrier’s
Antonov Airlines for a special ferry mission Airlines Commercial Executive Vladyslav fleet impacted operations, with the carrier
by Rhenus Project Logistics USA, according Ishchuk said, “This transport operation needing to bring the giant An-225 into
to the Stat Trade Times. The logistics required well co-ordinated preparation service temporarily.
company needed the aircraft to carry a and actions from both partners to fly Volga-Dnepr is the largest operator
massive power generator with a unique such outsized and heavy cargo safely. of the An-124 with a fleet of 12 aircraft.
shape, requiring more cabin space to Antonov Airlines showcased its flexibility This meant returning them to service was
accommodate it. by providing the AN-124 aircraft on the crucial to prove the safety of the aircraft.
According to Planespotters.net, nine of the
This was no problem for the An-124, required dates during an extremely busy carrier’s 12 aircraft are already back in the
which has a payload capacity of 150 period for the customer to minimise any sky, up from four last month.
tonnes, more than enough to carry the disruption that could have been faced.”
54-tonne generator.
However, fitting the 10.5m long, 3.89m AN-124 BACK IN THE SKY CARGO DEMAND SURGING
wide, and 4.13m high item required experts After an An-124 suffered from engine If 2020 proved to be endlessly challenging
to be on hand for loading and unloading. failure and broken landing gear, the type for passenger airlines, it had the opposite
The flight flew from Accra to Mumbai was grounded by cargo giant Volga-Dnepr effect on cargo ones.
and then back once the repairs were in November. Demand for international freight has
completed. The move came as pre-emptive to ensure surged with passenger flights grounded
The flight was chartered on short notice any flaws with the aircraft could be worked since almost 50% of all cargo is carried in
as the generation required urgent repairs. out and such situations did not occur in the the belly of passenger flights.
Considering the demand for An-124s future with its fleet. This means cargo airlines have seen
right now, it is impressive that the airline However, after an investigation into revenues shoot up and allowed them to
could provide the plane for this mission. the incident, Volga-Dpenr re approved expand their fleets in the last year. Q

World Airnews | March Extra 2021
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