The world's biggest airplane landed for the first time in Australia on Sunday, delivering a 117-ton generator to Perth from Prague.
Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported that the Antonov AN-225 Mriya aircraft weighs some 600 tons and has a wing span nearly the length of a football field, 88.4 meters, or 290 feet.
"It is the first time it's come to Australia, so it's a big event for all aviation enthusiasts around Australia," Davie Eyre, president of Aviation Western Australia, told ABC News. "It is exciting to see, for a start, you don't see six-engine aircrafts at all normally. It's got two tails, rather than the usual one you see on most big aircraft, so that makes it slightly different-looking."
"I suppose it's louder than most aircraft, but I wouldn't say excessively loud, but it's still an impressive sight to see in the air because it's so huge," Eyre continued.
Aviation WA posted on its website that the Antonov first left its home base near Kiev in the Ukraine to travel to the Czech Republic, where the logistics company DB Schenker loaded the huge Brush power generator. Aviation WA stated that the aircraft was developed in the 1980s to carry the Russian "Buran" space shuttle above its fuselage.
From there, it flew to Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, where the undercarriage problem was repaired and it refueled. Then the Antonov flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before traveling the final leg to Perth.
Australian aviation enthusiasts traveled to Perth from all over the continent to see the airplane's landing. The pilot flew the Ukrainian flag from the window after landing and the hulking airplane taxied successfully.
"Aviation is in my blood, it gets my heart pumping and my adrenaline going," Anna Maria Harrison
told The West Australian at the Perth Airport. "Some people drink, some smoke, but I just love planes."
The plane was scheduled to remain in Australia until Tuesday, when it will take off for its next assignment in Germany.
Related Stories:
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.