Free Republic

The world's largest aircraft, the Antonov AN-225, has been destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials, generating alarm and sadness among the aviation world... There has been no independent confirmation of the aircraft's destruction. A tweet from the Antonov Company said it could not verify the "technical condition" of the aircraft until it had been inspected by experts. Ukrainian state defense company Ukroboronprom, which manages Antonov, on Sunday issued a statement saying the aircraft had been destroyed... If confirmed, the attack would mark a shocking end to an aircraft that has seen more than 30 years...

The world’s largest cargo airplanes, all Cold War relics, continue to be in great demand around the globe. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, outsized air cargo charter went from an oddity to a burgeoning cottage industry. The global war on terror, and especially Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, further accelerated its growth, along with an increasingly globalized marketplace that relies on just-in-time manufacturing concepts. So, unless you're the US Air Force, when a 747 freighter can’t carry it, a chartered An-124 Condor usually does—and sometimes, the world’s largest aircraft, the An-225 Mriya (“Dream”) steps in to...

Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov and China’s Aerospace Industry Corporation have signed a deal which will facilitate the serial production of the world’s largest aircraft, the AN-225 Mriya (‘Dream’), in China. Negotiations between the two enterprises have been held since May 2016 and the deal was signed on August 30 in Beijing. “On August 30, Antonov [Company] and Aerospace Industry Corporation of China (AICC) signed an agreement on cooperation on the AN-225 project,” Antonov’s press service said in a statement, UNIAN news agency reported. The company added that cooperation between the two companies include the projected construction of the second aircraft...

I won't look at Soviet, Russian inspired anything no matter how spectacular simply out of spite but this Russian flying garbage can, by no mean beautiful is worth a peek taking off in a manner you might call Antonov Anachronisitic

Volga-Dnepr Airlines has signed an agreement with Aviastar SP to acquire five new AN-124-100M-150 freighter aircraft, as part of the AN-124-100 Production Recovery Project. Deliveries of the new 150 tonne capacity aircraft will begin in 2008. (8/25/2005) "The AN-124-100 'Ruslan' is a unique aircraft," said Alexey Isaikin, Aviastar SP chairman & president of Volga-Dnepr Group. "It is in such high demand in the global air cargo market that we are doing our best to relaunch serial production of the aircraft at the Aviastar aviation plant in Ulyanovsk," The AN-124-100Ì-150 is an operationally improved version of the AN-124 outsize and...