Antonov Airlines
IATA ICAO Callsign
– ADB ANTONOV BUREAU
FoundedApril 1989; 34 years ago (1989-04)
HubsLeipzig/Halle Airport
Fleet size8-10* (5 active, refer to fleet summary)
Parent companyAntonov
HeadquartersKyiv, Ukraine
Websiteantonov.com

Antonov Airlines is a Ukrainian cargo airline, a division of the Antonov aviation company. It operates international charter services in the oversized-cargo market. Its main base is Hostomel Airport near Kyiv. In the aftermath of the Battle of Hostomel Airport, Antonov relocated its remaining aircraft to Leipzig/Halle Airport.

History

Early years

The airline was established and started operations in 1989 through a marketing agent agreement with Air Foyle to market Antonov An-124 Ruslan cargo charters worldwide. This relationship ended in June 2006. The same month Antonov Airlines and another large player in the global specialty air cargo business, Volga-Dnepr Airlines (Russia), established a joint venture company – Rusland International[1] — where each company has a 50% stake. The joint operation of the Ukrainian and Russian fleets allows them to share the combined An-124-100 commercial fleet of seventeen aircraft (twelve of which belong to Antonov Airlines).[2] In 2017 Antonov Airlines opened a United Kingdom office at London Stansted Airport, with a first flight in February by an Antonov An-124 Ruslan.[3]

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Main article: Battle of Antonov Airport

At the outbreak of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the An-225 Mriya was at its home base of Antonov Airport in Hostomel undergoing an engine swap.[4][5] During the Battle of Antonov Airport the site was captured by the Russians, and the An-225 was destroyed.[6][7] UkrOboronProm said that: "The restoration is estimated to take over 3 billion USD and over five years. Our task is to ensure that these costs are covered by the Russian Federation, which has caused intentional damage to Ukraine's aviation and the air cargo sector."[4][7] Other Antonov Airlines aircraft were diverted to Leipzig/Halle Airport upon completion of commercial missions, from where the airline continued operations with five An-124 aircraft.[8][9]

Notable operations

Fleet

Antonov Airlines Antonov An-22
Antonov Airlines Antonov An-74
Antonov Airlines Antonov An-124

Current fleet

The Antonov Airlines fleet comprises the following aircraft (as of 5 April 2022):[18][19][20][8]

Antonov Airlines fleet
Aircraft In
fleet 		Orders Registration Notes
Antonov An-22A Antei 1 — UR-09307 In Kyiv during attacks, damaged[9]
Antonov An-28 1 — UR-NTE Sustained minor damage inside hangar[9]
Antonov An-124-100 Ruslan 2–3* (2 active) — UR-82029
UR-82072
UR-82073 		UR-82073 in Kyiv during attacks, condition unknown
Antonov An-124-100M Ruslan 4 (3 active) — UR-82007
UR-82008
UR-82009
UR-82027 		UR-82009 in Kyiv during attacks, damaged inside hangar during refit.[9][21][22][23][24]
Antonov An-178 ? — UR-EXP Condition unknown
Total 8–10* (5 active)

*Cannot give the exact size of fleet until condition of all the aircraft is confirmed.

Former fleet

The An 225 was destroyed in February 2022.

The following Antonov Airlines aircraft were destroyed in 2022 during the Battle of Hostomel Airport:[8]

The airline's fleet previously included the following aircraft (as of 2009):[26]

Antonov Airlines also operated the following aircraft for the Antonov Design Bureau:[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 27 March 2007. p. 76.
  2. ^ "Volga-Dnepr | Company Profile". Volga-Dnepr Airlines. n.d. Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2022. The airline operates a unique fleet of ramp aircraft comprising of [sic] 12 Antonov-124-100 'Ruslan' and five Ilyushin-76 freighter aircraft
  3. ^ "UK office handles Antonov Airlines charter". aircargonews. 20 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Russians destroy An-225 "Mriya", it will be restored at the expense of the occupant" (Press release). UkrOboronProm. 27 February 2022. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  5. ^ Kulisch, Eric (27 February 2022). "The 'Dream' is dead: Air cargo wonder destroyed in Ukraine". FreightWaves. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022. A Ukrainian defense industry association said the AN-225 will be restored at Russia's expense, which it put at $3 billion. Rebuilding the plane would take five years, it said.
  6. ^ "AN-225 Destroyed by Russian forces at Gostomel". airlineratings.com. 27 February 2022.
  7. ^ a b c Guy, Jack (28 February 2022) [2022-02-27]. "World's largest cargo plane damaged in Ukraine". CNN. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022. The enormous aircraft, named 'Mriya,' or 'dream' in Ukrainian, was parked at an airfield near Kyiv when it was attacked by 'Russian occupants,' Ukrainian authorities said, adding that they would rebuild the plane. 'Russia may have destroyed our 'Mriya'. But they will never be able to destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. We shall prevail!' wrote Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter. There has been no independent confirmation of the aircraft's destruction. A tweet from the Antonov Company said it could not verify the 'technical condition' of the aircraft until it had been inspected by experts
  8. ^ a b c "Antonov Airlines updates on fleet as it gains access to Hostomel". Air Cargo News. 6 April 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d "Чому треба відновити "Мрію". Перше інтервʼю з новим менеджментом "Антонова" — Forbes.ua". forbes.ua (in Ukrainian). 23 June 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  10. ^ "Antonov Airlines | Company Profile". Archived from the original on 22 June 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  11. ^ "World's largest aircraft, An-225, emerges to set new lift record". Archived from the original on 20 August 2009.
  12. ^ "Antonov's Giant: the An-124 Ruslan". www.aircraftinformation.info.
  13. ^ "looking at Irish rail past and today". Archived from the original on 20 May 2015.
  14. ^ "World's biggest plane to deliver 140-ton power generator to PHL | SciTech | GMA News Online". Gmanetwork.com. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Heaviest item airlifted".
  16. ^ Pavey, Rob (31 March 2011). "SRS pump will head to Japan". The Augusta Chronicle. ISSN 0747-1343. LCCN sn83016181. OCLC 956073125. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2022. The pump was moved Wednesday from the construction site in Aiken County to a facility in Hanahan, S.C., for minor modifications, and was trucked to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where it was picked up by the world's largest cargo plane, the Russian-made Antonov 225, which flown it to Tokyo
  17. ^ "Antonov flies maglev trains in a single flight". No. 1 July 2020. Global Cargo News. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020. Antonov Airlines has completed a unique cargo delivery of two Max Bögl TSB maglev trains from Munich, Germany to their customer Chengdu Xinzhu Road & Bridge Machinery Co. Ltd., Chengdu, China in cooperation with KN Airlift GmbH company
  18. ^ "Global Airline Guide 2016 (Part Two)". Airliner World (November 2016): 35.
  19. ^ Basseto, Murilo (27 February 2022). "Fontes na Antonov afirmam que foi destruído o An-225 Mriya, o maior avião do mundo" [Antonov sources claim that the An-225 Mriya, the world's largest plane, was destroyed]. AEROIN (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  20. ^ Cornelius (1 March 2022). "Some of the biggest planes in the world were in Kiev at the time of the invasion, see what they are". The Goa Spotlight. Archived from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  21. ^ "Comandante do Antonov An-225 filma sua primeira visita ao avião após ser destruído". 2 April 2022.
  22. ^ JACDEC [@JacdecNew] (1 April 2022). "Further images highlight the damage and destruction inside the Kiev-Gostomel Airport hangar (UKKM), Ukraine. Antonov AN-225 (UR-82060) as well as substantially damaged Antonov An-124 (UR-82009) and Antonov An-28 (UR-NTE). @flyrosta https://t.co/hnrLs4RGFd" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 9 April 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2022 – via Twitter.
  23. ^ "ASN Aircraft accident Antonov An-124-100 UR-82009 Kyiv-Gostomel Airport (GML)".
  24. ^ "01.04.2022 Аэропорт Гостомеля". April 2022.
  25. ^ Thomas, Geoffrey (28 February 2022). "AN-225 destroyed by Russian forces at Gostomel". Airline Ratings. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  26. ^ "Antonov Airlines". Antonov. Archived from the original on 8 December 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2022.

External links

Media related to Antonov Airlines at Wikimedia Commons

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