The world's largest aircraft, the An-225 Mriya manufactured by the Antonov Airlines company, returned to its base at the Antonov airport on November 14 after transporting a Siemens transformer and associated equipment from Zagreb (Croatia) to Cebu (Philippines). This delivery needed to be performed in the shortest possible time to allow the San Lorenzo power plant to resume full operation, the press service of Antonov has announced.
"Only the An-225 could perform this task because the weight of the transformer is 136 tons and the total weight of all the cargoes was 180 tons,” said Antonov.
Implementation of the project required the use of special equipment. Designers at Antonov designed a transport frame that allowed uniform distribution of the load from the transformer to the aircraft’s cargo floor. The total weight of the combined cargo (the transformer and the frame) was 155 tons.
UTC Overseas Logistics Ltd (Budapest, Hungary) acted as the forwarder for the project on behalf of Siemens-Koncar Power Transformers Ltd (Zagreb).
Zagreb was receiving the An-225 Mriya for the first time, and the arrival of the world’s largest aircraft attracted interest from thousands of people, who gathered at the airport to watch it being loaded. The landing of the aircraft at the airport in Cebu required preliminary preparation and coordination of special procedures and the actions of the crew with the airport authorities and the aviation authorities of the Philippines.
Typhoon Haiyan, the epicenter of which passed through Cebu, hit the Philippines before the departure of the aircraft from Zagreb. However, the authorities managed to reopen the airport before the scheduled arrival of the An-225, and the aircraft successfully delivered the goods to their destination.
