An124 Making The News

The An124 has made the news ever since it started commercial operations in 1989. Back then, still in or immediately after the Soviet era, the arrival of a Ukrainian or Russian airplane to carry commercial loads to or from 'Western' countries was such a cultural shock for the local population that it made the headlines for political reasons.

Then the astonishment at the types of loads being carried began to develop as shippers began to realise the potential advantages open to them. The transport of a world record single piece of 135.2 ton generator stator from Dusseldorf to Delhi proved a breakthrough when the shipper, Siemens, made such publicity in it's in house magazine and press releases that the whole power generation industry sat up and took notice.

Today, when the An124 is the mainstay of the world's air cargo charter market, the arrival of an An124 so long ago has become an item in the nostalgia bracket as the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner features the arrival of an An124 at Fairbanks in their column of 'Ten Years Ago Today'.