The Antonov An-225 is the heaviest and longest operational aircraft today. Built during the
1980s, this behemoth was intended to primarily serve the USSR space program, but has gone
on to a niche role carrying the heaviest of payloads.
At over 30 years old, it has just finished a recent refurbishment, and we are likely
to see it carrying out special missions for more than another decade. But… What’s
the story behind this massive plane? And what does its future hold?
But first, if you’re liking our videos, why not Subscribe to get the latest Long Haul
episodes weekly? And don’t be shy – tell your friends, too!
Now... There are several ways to measure the largest aircraft. By passenger volume, it’s
the A380 with an exit limit of 853. By fuselage volume, it’s the Airbus Beluga XL with a
capacity of 2,209 cubic meters. But the Antonov An-225 tops the list in a
few areas... It is the heaviest aircraft ever built – with an empty weight of 285 tonnes
– and can carry the highest payload, 250 tonnes.
It is also the longest aircraft built, at 84 meters. (It beats the new 777-9 by almost
eight meters.) If that’s not enough – for good measure, it also has 32 wheels and six
engines.
Simple Flying got an exclusive look into how the An-225 operates, courtesy of one of the
aircraft’s pilots Dmytro Antonov… I will tell you more about this aircraft.
It is 84 m in length, it has a wingspan of 88 m, and it is 18 m high (with the tail).
When you sit in the aircraft, it is 8.5 m from the pilot’s eyes to the ground. This
aircraft is very comfortable, and very convenient to fly. The crew’s cabin is spacious; there
is quite a big rest zone where six people can have a rest and it is possible to equip
three or four more rooms for rest.
... the AN-225 is different from a regular plane as she is a cargo plane, not a passenger
aircraft. She has a huge cargo cabin with a volume of 1,150 m3.
If you want to know more about Dmytro, check out his channel – Dmytro Antonov – where
he chronicles his work with Antonov Airlines.
Known as ‘Mriya’ (which means ‘dream’), the An-225 was built by the USSR (within the
Ukrainian SSR) in the 1980s. At the time, the USSR was developing a reusable space vehicle
known as Buran – similar to the US Space Shuttle. Ultimately, the government knew Buran
would need to be moved from its construction site to its launch area and then recovered
after its return. The An-225 was designed and built for this purpose.
The aircraft could transport the Buran space shuttle on top of its fuselage, while additional
pieces of the shuttle could be carried as cargo.
The An-225 was actually developed as an enlarged version of the already operational An-124.
The dash 124 was likewise designed by Antonov during the 1980s and first flew in 1982. It
entered service in 1986, two years before the An-225, and it remains one of the largest
aircraft still flying today. Today, 24 An-124 aircraft remain in use (according
to data from ch-aviation.com). Six of these are operated by Ukrainian airline Antonov
Airlines, six by Russian airline Volga-Dnepr, six by Voyennaya Transportnaya Aviatsiya and
one by UAE-based Maximus Air Cargo. The rest are operated by the Russian Air Force. They
fly regular cargo missions all over the world, and at a time when many airlines are retiring
older aircraft, the An-124s have seen plenty of use during the pandemic.
Basing the design of An-225 on the An-124 saved development time and cost. The same
fuselage structure and engines (Progress D-18T engines) were used. Two engines were added
– for a total of six – and the fuselage was extended by around 15 meters.
To remove weight and better handle the top-loaded payload, Anotonov removed the rear cargo access.
But it retained the same opening nose and the lowering nose gear, which allows the aircraft
to ‘kneel’ when loading cargo. Engineers also changed the tail design from
the An-124. The single vertical stabilizer was switched to a twin tail, with two vertical
stabilizers and a larger horizontal stabilizer. This would provide better handling with the
large payload on top of the aircraft. Construction of the fuselage, tail and the
final assembly took place at Antonov’s facilities in Kyiv. The wings and wing center were built
by the state-owned Uzbekistan company Valerii Chkalov in Tashkent and transported to Kyiv
using the An-22 transporter.
The Buran spacecraft only flew one unmanned mission in 1988. It returned successfully,
but even though future launches were planned, they never ended up taking place. Additionally,
the collapse of the USSR led to the suspension of the space program, and two additional orbiters
were never completed. The one existing Buran was stored in Kazakhstan, but it was destroyed
when a hangar roof collapsed in 2002. The An-225 suffered a similar decline – at
least initially. After use for the first Buran flight, it made appearances at the Paris Air
Show in 1989 and the Farnborough Air Show in 1990. It went into storage in 1994, with
the six engines removed and re-used on An-124 aircraft.
By the late 1990s, however, Ukrainian Antonov Airlines saw potential in returning it to
service as a freighter capable of carrying larger payloads than the An-124. Engines were
re-installed, and the cabin floor and nose ramp were strengthened (as the original design
was to carry external payload). It returned to operations in February 2001.
In 1995, Mriya finished her work and, unfortunately, hit the scrap heap (we cannot call it museum).
The aircraft was grounded for six long years. Thanks to our General Designer Petro Balabuyev’s
willpower and aspirations, in 2001 the aircraft was restored, certification tests were completed,
and her airworthiness certificate was received. The AN-225 entered commercial service in 2001
While two An-225 were originally ordered, only one aircraft was ever completed. That
model currently flies with registration UR-82060. The other An-225 was under construction when
the Buran project ended and Ukrainian Antonov Airlines took ownership of it. Work resumed
in 2009 and saw it nearly 70% complete. There was interest in 2016 from China and reports
about a potential sale to the Airspace Industry Corporation of China.
However, it remains unfinished, and according to comments from Antonov Airline’s CEO Oleksander
Donets in 2020, it most likely will never be completed, as it is unlikely that anyone
would recover the costs with its limited potential operations. Donets said:
“According to estimates made in 2012, when our relations with (Russia) were good, (the
costs of construction) have reached nearly $460 million for the old specifications it
was built with….. Most importantly, nearly 35 percent of (the world’s) airports can’t
provide landing space (for Mriya). Because of its dimensions and wingspan, it doesn’t
fit runway strips… We will not recoup the costs.”
While finishing the second Antonov may be prohibitively expensive, subscribing to our
channel for new episodes is completely free. And don’t forget to click that notification
bell, too.
Irrespective of its sibling’s fate, the lone An-225 remains busy today.
The aircraft sees several charters each year. This has included plenty of oversize, heavy
cargo such as generators and construction equipment, military equipment, and large humanitarian
loads.
If you are wondering about the cost of chartering the An-225 – the BBC estimated it to be
around $30,000 per hour in its analysis. Some of the more interesting missions have
included: In January 2002 – one of the aircraft’s
first missions after being re-certified – it flew 187.5 tonnes of prepared meals for troops
from Germany to an American military base in Oman.
In June 2004, it flew from Prague to Tashkent with four pipe-laying machines, setting a
payload record of 247 tonnes. It set the record for the heaviest single
cargo item in August 2009 – flying a 189-tonne generator to Armenia for implementation in
a gas power plant. Then in June 2010, it carried the longest
ever air cargo – two 41.2 meter wind turbine blades from China to Denmark.
During the pandemic, several medical missions have taken place, including a record for cargo
volume on April 14th, 2020, when it carried 1000 cubic meters of equipment from China
to Poland. Two weeks later, it carried 150 tonnes from China to France.
With the current high demand for cargo (caused in part by fewer passenger aircraft flying
and carrying cargo), the An-225 should remain busy for some time to come.
The airframe is, of course, aging – as of 2021, it has been 32 years since its first
flight. But it has seen much less use than a standard commercial airliner. Antonov Airlines
has previously claimed it would have a lifespan of 45 years, and after completing an 18-month
refurbishment at the end of 2020, it is expected to remain in service until at least 2033.
The An-225 is an amazing aircraft and fills a niche role. Have you ever seen it in action?
Feel free to share your experiences in the comments… And if you’d like to see more
of Dmytro and the An-225, check out his channel, Dmytro Antonov.