A sight to behold: world's largest aircraft lands on RGIA's tarmac

HYDERABAD: Picture a Boeing-737 plane. Now, take it another step forward, and imagine an aircraft so big, that it can comfortably carry the 737 inside it. There is a name for this. Antonov AN-225 Mriya.

'Mriya' means 'dream' in Ukranian.

This is precisely what it felt like, witnessing the 'World's largest aircraft' Antonov AN-225 Mriya, touchdown at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at twenty minutes past 12 midnight on Thursday, a first for India.

Officials at the airport cut a cake in the presence of the crew members at midnight. The more than two-decades old cargo aircraft, for a comparison, has a wingspan of 88.4m, 8m more than the biggest passenger jet Airbus A380 double-decker aircraft.

Colloquially called 'beast', the aircraft is powered by 6 super-charged turbo-fan engines, and has a maximum take off weight(MTOW) of 640 metric tons. Its maximum take off weight equals 8 Boeing 737s put together.

"There is around 130 metric tonnes of cargo at the moment. There are very few airports in the world which can land this beast. I was surprised to see that the pilot has to climb a 12 m ladder inside the plane to reach the cockpit," said an airport official, unable to control his excitement.

The aircraft arrived from Turkmenbashi in Central Asia and after a 24-hour halt in city, will proceed to Jakarta, Indonesia and thereafter to its final destination of Perth, Australia.

SGK Kishore, CEO, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) said: "We feel privileged. The landing of AN-225 Mriya is a testimony to our robust infrastructure, technical expertise and operational efficiency. That of all airports in India, Hyderabad Airport was chosen as the technical stopover for the world's largest aircraft reiterates our competence."

Factors such as runway length, ground maneuvering area, technical facilities, and proximity to the trans-continental air route made it possible for Hyderabad to host the aircraft.

There are 21 crew members, of whom 9 are pilots. "The plane can fly for 18 hours straight. But, a technical halt in India was needed to comply with the Flight Duty Time Limits (FDTL)," said another official.  

The plane can fly for 18 hours straight. But a technical halt in India was needed to comply with Flight Duty Time Limits (FDTL) an airline official

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