World's largest cargo plane lands in Hyderabad

The world's largest cargo aircraft, Antonov AN -225 Mriya- or the Dream landed in India on May 13 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad. The big bird has been parked at the airport's Code-F (Airbus A380 Compatible) cargo apron. Airport operator GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) said in a statement that the aircraft will proceed to Jakarta in Indonesia and from there to Perth. Text: IANS

The wide body aircraft is powered by six turbofan engines and is the longest and heaviest airplane ever built, with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes, a statement said. It also has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service.

"Specially built to undertake transcontinental route airlifting load between 180-230 tonnes, the aircraft will be coming in to Hyderabad from Turkmenistan,"  the Ukraine company's collaborators said. The aircraft is 84 metres long, 18.1 metres high, has a wingspan of 88.4 metres and a fuel capacity of 300,000 kg. Its maximum speed is 850 km per hour with a 15,400 km range and 11,000 metres cruising altitude.

The flying behemoth, which holds almost 240 world records, is powered by six supercharged turbo-fan engines, operated by a six-man crew, and lifts a mammoth 640 tonnes of MTOW (Maximum Take Off Weight). The development comes close on the heels of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence signing a strategic pact last month with Antonov Company of Ukraine for the assembly, manufacture, and maintenance and repair of is platforms in India, both for the commercial and the military market.