Jacked-up An124?

As if the Antonov An124 was not large enough already, a modified version with a taller fuselage to accommodate a greater range of industrial payloads is now being proposed by Volga-Dnepr.

Using the same approach at was used by Antonov in the development of the An225 by building on the existing robust airframe of the original, the new variant, designated the An-124-102, would be produced by slicing a standard An-124 lengthwise, from nose to tail, on a horizontal plane just below the level of the cockpit.

Additional fuselage structure would then be inserted between the upper and lower halves which would increase the internal height by about 2m from 4.4m to 6.7m, although the fuselage width would remain unchanged.

Some of the major sources of outsize business for the An124 are in the power generation, industrial and military markets. Power generation equipment is frequently circular requiring a height as great as the width. Industrial equipment is frequently built on a relatively small framework base in order to make maximum use of factory floor space and military loads often include both vehicles and helicopters which, by their nature, include a lot of empty air in their cabins which increase the overall height.

Dennis Gliznoutsa, commercial director of the Volga-Dnepr Group says the company is exploring whether there is sufficient commercial interest from such customers that might use such an aircraft.

Other very large aircraft operating today include both the Airbus A300-600ST and Boeing’s 747 Large Cargo Freighter. However, these aircraft are unavailable for ad hoc charter because they are essentially an integral part of the supply chain of their respective owners. Both of these aircraft also require expensive and scarce loading platforms.

The existing advantages of the An124 would remain with drive on drive off loading available for wheeled loads or the existing, well proven sloping ramp loading for heavy industrial loads. The An124 is not fully pressurised in the cargo cabin so one would expect little difficulties arising with pressurisation.

Volga-Dnepr says overall payload capacity would be reduced to 135t against the 150t of the most modern version of the An-124. The range with this payload would also shorten to from 4,000km to 2,500km.

Fuel consumption would increase by about 10%, says Gliznoutsa, and the aircraft would be about 25kt slower in cruise. Modification could be completed in about 18-25 months.

While business remains at it's present levels Volga-Dnepr would be reluctant to take one of it's existing revenue earning airframes out of service. An alternative would be to do another deal for one of the military airframes which remain unused.