Ukraine's Mega-Plane Works Overtime Through Pandemic

A masked security guard in front of the one and only Antonov An-225 cargo plane after it flew an order of 10 million face masks from China to Germany on April 27.

The An-225, which is the world's heaviest plane, being loaded up in Tianjin, China, before a flight to Poland on April 13. The Ukrainian air freighter has become one of the stars of the world’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
 

The An-225 landing in Kyiv on April 23. The plane is 84 meters long and has the widest wingspan of any operational aircraft, at 88.4 meters.

A file photo of the cockpit of the An-225, which flies with a crew of six

The An-225 was designed in the Soviet Union to carry the Buran space shuttle (pictured) and the shuttle's rockets. Only one An-225 aircraft was built, first flying in 1988. Following the collapse of the U.S.S.R., the aircraft entered commercial service in 2001 with the name "Mriya," which means "dream" in Ukrainian. 
 

The An-225 swooping through a clear spring sky above Kyiv on April 23. Vitaliy Shost, the deputy director of Antonov Airlines, told RFE/RL the plane makes an average of 12 to 20 flights each year, but so far in 2020 it has already completed seven international deliveries. 

Boxes of face masks being unloaded from the An-225 in Leipzig on April 27. Shost says the plane has been in high demand during the pandemic because lightweight cargos of protective medical equipment can completely fill the plane’s cavernous, 43-meter-long cargo hold. Other aircraft would require multiple flights to deliver the same volume of supplies.

The An-225 flying at altitude over Odesa, Ukraine, on April 23. Shost declined to say how much the plane costs to rent, but in 2004 the An-225’s transport of an oversized industrial component from Denmark to Kazakhstan cost a reported $291,000.

The crew of the Antonov wearing protective equipment after landing in Leipzig on April 27

Media line up to film the An-225 landing in Warsaw on April 14 stuffed with millions of items of personal protective equipment. Thousands of people reportedly turned out to watch the unique aircraft's arrival and one video of the April 14 landing has been viewed nearly 2 million times.
 

Face masks purchased by the German government are unloaded in Leipzig. For this China-to-Germany flight, Shost says the An-225 was initially scheduled to refuel in Kazakhstan, then Azerbaijan, but due to the lightweight cargo, the pilot made the decision to fly direct from Kazakhstan to Germany.
 

The An-225 departs from its base near Kyiv on April 11. Shost told RFE/RL the plane was "our business card, the face of our company. A lot of people are familiar with Antonov Airlines because of this plane."