The world’s biggest aircraft, the Antonov An-225 from Ukraine landed at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport early morning on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 to deliver a 140 ton power generator to the Philippines.
The Russian-built Antonov An-225 was made by the former Soviet Union, meant to ferry on its back the USSR’s version of the Space Shuttle in the 1980’s. The world’s largest aircraft is powered by six jet engines and has a total of 32 wheels.
Antonov 225 Landed in Mactan Cebu (Photo Credit: Nigel Paul Villarete)
The aircraft which was registered in Ukraine holds the world record for heaviest take off weight of a little over 253 tons, it is larger and heavier than either Airbus A380 or the Boeing 747.
The cargo of the aircraft has a volume of 1,300 cubic meters (6.4 meters wide, 4.4 meters high and 43.3 meters long). According to a report published by the Inquirer, First Gen confirmed that the aircraft has been hired for the delivery, but did not elaborate further on the details.
In a separate report by Demotix.com, the Antonov An-225 landed earlier at the Pleso airport in Zagreb, Croatia and ship a Končar power generator to a power plant in the Philippines.
The report stated that due to thunder strike in the Philippine power plant San Lorenzo, lost one of the two generators that were made by renewed electric company Končar. The company made a new 310 MVA generator but the problem is, it weighs 140 tons and shipping by seas would take another 45 days. The Philippine power plant decided to hire Antonov An-255 for transport of the power generator to the Philippines.