Antonov An-124 Ruslan

The Antonov An-124 Ruslan is a four-engine strategic airlifter, designed in the Ukrainian SSR and first flown on December 24, 1982. NATO gave it the reporting name Condor.

The Soviet air force wanted it to move heavy military equipment. Since the 1990s it has also been the aircraft shippers call when a load will not fit anywhere else.

Is the An-124 the biggest plane in the world?

No. The An-225 Mriya, an enlarged six-engine derivative of the An-124, was bigger, and it was destroyed during the battle for Antonov Airport in February 2022. The story of that loss is on our An-225 Mriya page.

Among aircraft still flying, the answer depends on the measure. The An-124 has the longer wing, 240 ft 6 in (73.30 m) against 224 ft 5 in (68.40 m) for the Boeing 747-8F.

The 747-8F is the heavier aircraft, with a maximum takeoff weight of 975,000 lb (442 t) and a published range at maximum payload of 5,050 miles (8,130 km). Our list of the biggest aircraft in the world shows where the Ruslan sits among them.

An-124 vs C-5 Galaxy: which is bigger?

The two look alike. The An-124 has a slightly shorter fuselage, a slightly greater wingspan and a conventional tail where the C-5 has a T-tail.

The C-5M is the longer aircraft, at 247 ft 1 in (75.31 m) against 226 ft 8 in (69.10 m). The An-124 has the wider wing, 240 ft 6 in (73.30 m) against 222 ft 9 in (67.89 m).

Inside, the Ruslan’s hold is wider and taller. It is 21 ft 0 in (6.40 m) wide and 14 ft 5 in (4.40 m) high, where the C-5’s hold is about 19 ft 0 in (5.79 m) wide and 13 ft 5 in (4.09 m) high.

Payload depends on the version. The C-5M is rated at 281,000 lb (127,459 kg), a little above the standard An-124-100 and below the 150-tonne An-124-100M-150. The C-5 first flew in 1968, fourteen years before the Ruslan. See the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy page for its full specification.

Is the An-124 Russian or Ukrainian?

Both, depending on which part of the story you mean. Antonov is a state-owned company headquartered in Kyiv, and it designed the An-124 in what was then the Ukrainian SSR.

Final assembly ran on two lines, one at the Kyiv Aviation Plant AVIANT in Ukraine and one at Aviastar-SP in Ulyanovsk, Russia. The program drew parts from more than 100 factories.

Operators now split along the same border. Antonov Airlines flies Ukrainian-registered aircraft, while Volga-Dnepr and Russian military units fly Russian-registered ones.

How the An-124 was developed

Design work began in 1971 at the Antonov bureau, under the in-house name Izdeliye 400. Soviet Military Transport Aviation was short of heavy airlift, and its largest aircraft was a fleet of about 50 An-22 turboprops that were used heavily in tactical roles.

Assembly of the first airframe began in 1979, and it flew on December 24, 1982. The type reached the West at the 1985 Paris Air Show and entered service in 1986.

After the Soviet collapse the aircraft found a second career as a freighter. Civil certification followed on December 30, 1992.

Production is recorded as running from 1982 to 2004. The total built is quoted as 55, 56 or 57 depending on the source, and many commercial aircraft were refurbished ex-military airframes or preserved unfinished fuselages rather than new builds.

How the nose-loading design works

The An-124 loads through a nose that swings up and a rear ramp that drops. The landing gear kneels on its 24 wheels to lower the nose, so vehicles can drive straight in.

Both cargo doors are 21 ft 0 in (6.40 m) wide, according to Volga-Dnepr. An onboard overhead crane system lifts up to 30 tonnes, and with the right loading equipment a single piece of up to 120 tonnes can be winched aboard.

The hold is only partly pressurized, which is why the Ruslan rarely carries passengers or paratroopers in it. The upper deck behind the wing is fully pressurized and seats 88 people. The hold floor is titanium.

The control system is fly-by-wire, backed by conventional mechanical controls with redundant hydraulics. The An-124 has no in-flight refueling capability.

The original crew of eight included a navigator, a radio operator and two loadmasters. Volga-Dnepr’s upgrades allowed four-person operations in place of the six or seven it needed before.

Explaining the numbers

The full specification table for the aircraft is on this page. A few figures need context because they get quoted against each other.

Payload is the first. The standard An-124-100 is rated to carry 264,500 lb (120,000 kg). The An-124-100M-150 version raises that to 150 tonnes at a higher takeoff weight, and Wikipedia records only one -100 converted to it.

Range is the most misread number. The panel’s 8,700 miles (14,000 km) is the ferry range, flown with full fuel and almost no payload. With a full 120-tonne load, Volga-Dnepr gives about 2,800 miles (4,500 km), and Wikipedia’s figure for the -100M is about 2,300 miles (3,700 km).

At a 40-tonne load, Volga-Dnepr lists about 7,000 miles (11,400 km). Payload and range trade off steeply, which is why the same aircraft can be quoted as a 2,800-mile freighter and an 8,700-mile one.

Takeoff weight depends on where you look. The panel shows the 893,000 lb (405,000 kg) certified maximum that SKYbrary and Doc8643 publish. Volga-Dnepr operates at 864,000 lb (392 t) and Wikipedia’s -100M block says 402,000 kg, so the spread is version and certification, not error.

Speed and runway need a note too. The top speed of 467 kt (537 mph) is a true airspeed, about Mach 0.78.

At maximum takeoff weight the takeoff run is 9,850 ft (3,000 m). The landing roll at maximum landing weight is much shorter, 2,950 ft (900 m), helped by thrust reversers.

An-124 variants

The An-124-100 is the commercial version that Volga-Dnepr and Antonov Airlines fly. The An-124-100M-150 is the uprated one, with D-18T Series 4 engines and a 150-tonne payload.

Several further versions stayed on paper. The An-124-200 would have used General Electric CF6-80C2 engines, and the An-124-210 was a joint proposal with Air Foyle using Rolls-Royce RB211s for Britain’s Short Term Strategic Airlifter requirement. That competition was abandoned in August 1999, reinstated, and won by the C-17 Globemaster III.

Russia has pursued its own successors. The An-124-102 Slon, a larger Russian design presented in 2017, was meant to replace the -100 at Ulyanovsk. The An-124-300 with upgraded engines was ordered by the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2020.

What the An-124 carries

Spaceflight is a steady customer. United Launch Alliance has used it to move Atlas V stages from Alabama and Colorado to the Florida and California launch sites, and SpaceX has used it for payload fairings.

Other loads show how far the aircraft stretches the idea of cargo. It flew the first IE 201 Class locomotive from Ontario to Dublin in 1994, and the Obelisk of Axum from Rome to Ethiopia in April 2005.

In April 2011 it airlifted a concrete pump from Germany to Japan for the Fukushima reactors. In May 2018 it carried an 87,000 lb die tool from Michigan to England to restart Ford F-150 production after a factory fire.

Volga-Dnepr also fits a double-deck platform that takes up to 53 conventional cars at a time. German forces used several An-124s in 2021 to bring equipment, including two NH-90 helicopters, out of Afghanistan.

The headline record dates to July 1985, when an An-124 lifted 171,219 kg (377,473 lb). Sources disagree on whether the altitude was 2,000 m or 10,750 m, so treat that detail with care.

NATO’s SALIS program depends on the type. Nine member states share a contract that guarantees access to up to five An-124-100s with staggered lead times, and a 2026 European Security & Defence report says SALIS partners have essentially no alternative to them. Our guide to the largest cargo planes covers the other heavy lifters.

The An-124 since 2022

The invasion split the fleet. Antonov registration UR-82009 was at Hostomel on February 24, 2022. Wikipedia says artillery destroyed it, while The Aviationist reported damage and no confirmed total losses, so accounts differ.

Five An-124s that were abroad on commercial flights were diverted to Leipzig, and the airworthy fleet has been based there since. UR-82073 stayed stranded near Kyiv until it flew to Leipzig on July 11, 2025, with more than 21,000 flight hours and 5,500 sorties behind it.

The Russian side has its own stranded aircraft. Volga-Dnepr’s RA-82078 arrived at Toronto Pearson on February 27, 2022, and Canada seized it in June 2023. In August 2026 Canada’s Federal Court rejected the airline’s bid to overturn the sanctions, as we reported in our news coverage of the ruling.

Simple Flying counts nine An-124-100s in Volga-Dnepr’s fleet, spread across Toronto, Leipzig/Halle, Dubai World Central and Ulyanovsk. In January 2026 the Volga-Dnepr Group was acquired by Evraz Avia Service LLC.

No new An-124 is known to have been built since 2004. Restart plans announced in 2008, 2009 and 2019 have not produced an airframe that the sources I read record, and Russia shelved the joint plan in 2014 over political tensions.

An-124 accidents

As of November 2020 the type had recorded five accidents with hull losses and 97 fatalities. The worst was the Russian Air Force An-124 that crashed after takeoff from Irkutsk in December 1997, killing all 23 aboard and 45 people on the ground.

On November 13, 2020 a Volga-Dnepr An-124 suffered an uncontained engine failure after takeoff from Novosibirsk. The airline voluntarily grounded its entire fleet on November 25, and its first aircraft returned to service by December 29.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Antonov 124 the biggest plane in the world?

No. The An-225 Mriya, its enlarged six-engine derivative, was bigger, and it was destroyed in 2022. Today the An-124 has a longer wing than the Boeing 747-8F, but the 747-8F has a higher maximum takeoff weight.

Which is bigger, C-5 or Antonov 124?

The C-5M is longer, at 247 ft 1 in (75.31 m) against 226 ft 8 in (69.10 m). The An-124 has the wider wing at 240 ft 6 in (73.30 m) against 222 ft 9 in (67.89 m), and a wider, taller hold.

Is Antonov 124 Russian or Ukrainian?

It is a Ukrainian design, built on two lines, in Kyiv and in Ulyanovsk, Russia. It was designed by Antonov in the Ukrainian SSR, and both Ukrainian and Russian operators fly it today.

Is Antonov Ukrainian or Russian?

Antonov is a Ukrainian state-owned aircraft company headquartered in Kyiv. Its cargo subsidiary, Antonov Airlines, has based its airworthy An-124s at Leipzig since 2022.

How much can an An-124 carry?

The standard An-124-100 is rated for 120 tonnes. The An-124-100M-150 version is rated for 150 tonnes, though Wikipedia records only one -100 converted to it.

How many An-124s were built?

Between 55 and 57, depending on the source. Wikipedia gives 57 but flags that figure as needing a citation.

How many An-124s are still flying?

No authoritative count exists since 2022. In late 2020 Antonov Airlines had seven, Volga-Dnepr 12 and Maximus Air Cargo one, and Simple Flying now counts nine in Volga-Dnepr’s fleet, several of them stored or stranded.