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| Founded | April 1989 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hubs | Leipzig/Halle Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 8-10* (5 active, refer to fleet summary) | ||||||
| Parent company | Antonov | ||||||
| Headquarters | Kyiv, Ukraine | ||||||
| Website | antonov.com | ||||||
Antonov Airlines is a Ukrainian cargo airline, a division of the Antonov aviation company. It operates international charter services in the oversized-cargo market. Its main base is Hostomel Airport near Kyiv. In the aftermath of the Battle of Hostomel Airport, Antonov relocated its remaining aircraft to Leipzig/Halle Airport.
The airline was established and started operations in 1989 through a marketing agent agreement with Air Foyle to market Antonov An-124 Ruslan cargo charters worldwide. This relationship ended in June 2006. The same month Antonov Airlines and another large player in the global specialty air cargo business, Volga-Dnepr Airlines (Russia), established a joint venture company – Rusland International [1] — where each company has a 50% stake. The joint operation of the Ukrainian and Russian fleets allows them to share the combined An-124-100 commercial fleet of seventeen aircraft (twelve of which belong to Antonov Airlines). [2] In 2017 Antonov Airlines opened a United Kingdom office at London Stansted Airport, with a first flight in February by an Antonov An-124 Ruslan. [3]
At the outbreak of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the An-225 Mriya was at its home base of Antonov Airport in Hostomel undergoing an engine swap. [4] [5] During the Battle of Antonov Airport the site was captured by the Russians, and the An-225 was destroyed. [6] [7] UkrOboronProm said that: "The restoration is estimated to take over 3 billion USD and over five years. Our task is to ensure that these costs are covered by the Russian Federation, which has caused intentional damage to Ukraine's aviation and the air cargo sector." [4] [7] Other Antonov Airlines aircraft were diverted to Leipzig/Halle Airport upon completion of commercial missions, from where the airline continued operations with five An-124 aircraft. [8] [9]
The Antonov Airlines fleet comprises the following aircraft (As of February 2025 [update] ): [18] [8]
| Aircraft | In fleet | Orders | Registration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antonov An-124-100 Ruslan | 3 | — | ||
| Antonov An-124-100M Ruslan | 4 | — | [9] [19] [20] [21] [22] | |
| Total | 7 | |||
The following Antonov Airlines aircraft were destroyed in 2022 during the Battle of Hostomel Airport: [8]
The airline's fleet previously included the following aircraft:
The airline operates a unique fleet of ramp aircraft comprising of[ sic ] 12 Antonov-124-100 'Ruslan' and five Ilyushin-76 freighter aircraft
A Ukrainian defense industry association said the AN-225 will be restored at Russia's expense, which it put at $3 billion. Rebuilding the plane would take five years, it said.
The enormous aircraft, named 'Mriya,' or 'dream' in Ukrainian, was parked at an airfield near Kyiv when it was attacked by 'Russian occupants,' Ukrainian authorities said, adding that they would rebuild the plane. 'Russia may have destroyed our 'Mriya'. But they will never be able to destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. We shall prevail!' wrote Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter. 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
The pump was moved Wednesday from the construction site in Aiken County to a facility in Hanahan, S.C., for minor modifications, and was trucked to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where it was picked up by the world's largest cargo plane, the Russian-made Antonov 225, which flown it to Tokyo
Antonov Airlines has completed a unique cargo delivery of two Max Bögl TSB maglev trains from Munich, Germany to their customer Chengdu Xinzhu Road & Bridge Machinery Co. Ltd., Chengdu, China in cooperation with KN Airlift GmbH company
Media related to Antonov Airlines at Wikimedia Commons
