Air, Freight News

AN-225 Gets Helping Hand from Freightworks

[ June 20, 2016   //   Gary G Burrows ]

The world’s largest cargo plane, the Antonov An-225 Mriya (AN-225), took its first voyage from Ukraine to Abu Dhabi carrying a shipment handled by Freightworks, the WACO System member for the UAE.
The six-engine, 600-tonne aircraft, which has twice the wing area of a Boeing 747, was transporting a compressor skid and associated system equipment. There were six pieces of cargo weighing a total of 155 tonnes.
“We have a dedicated project team in place for pre-planning the handling of such moves,” said Andrew O’Donnell, Director Projects, Removals and Fine Art, Freightworks. “This ensured smooth access airside for all equipment and personnel prior to plane arrival and a total of seven hours to offload the cargo.”
Freightworks contracted Freightworks Logistics in Abu Dhabi to complete destination services, which included arranging and undertaking the offloading of the AN-225 airside, and onward transportation to the final destination.
“Handling for the largest aircraft in the world has been an exciting challenge for the Freightworks team,” said O’Donnell. “Now and then, there are seminal events in the airfreight industry, and we are honored to have been a part of this one.”
This was only the second journey to Abu Dhabi for the colossal aircraft, which has a wingspan of 88 meters. It landed at Abu Dhabi International Airport on Saturday, May 21 at 12.30pm.
A Boeing 747 was also chartered for the same project, and an additional 45 packages, amounting to 78 tonnes, were handled by Freightworks Logistics Abu Dhabi before being delivered to the final destination at the project site in Rumaitha, UAE.

Tags: Freightworks