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]
Vehicles and systems for resolving the Persian Gulf crisis (mine clearance bulldozers, mobile electric stations, special mine, and oil-clearing boats, humanitarian assistance);[10]
^"Volga-Dnepr | Company Profile". Volga-Dnepr Airlines. n.d. Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2022. The airline operates a unique fleet of ramp aircraft comprising of [sic] 12 Antonov-124-100 'Ruslan' and five Ilyushin-76 freighter aircraft
^Kulisch, Eric (27 February 2022). "The 'Dream' is dead: Air cargo wonder destroyed in Ukraine". FreightWaves. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022. 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.
^ abcGuy, Jack (28 February 2022) [2022-02-27]. "World's largest cargo plane damaged in Ukraine". CNN. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022. 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
^Pavey, Rob (31 March 2011). "SRS pump will head to Japan". The Augusta Chronicle. ISSN0747-1343. LCCNsn83016181. OCLC956073125. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2022. 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 flies maglev trains in a single flight". No. 1 July 2020. Global Cargo News. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020. 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
