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Antonov An-124 Ruslan

Antonov · Cargo · In service

The largest production cargo aircraft.

Length69.1 m
Wingspan73.3 m
Range11,900 km
MTOW402 t
Built55
First flight1982
Our numbers

Derived metrics

Computed by aircraft.fyi from the core specification — see how we calculate these.

Range per tonne#58 of 65
29.6 km/t maximum range ÷ MTOW in tonnes
Span-to-length ratio#14 of 68
1.06 wingspan ÷ fuselage length
Weight per metre#5 of 68
5.82 t/m MTOW ÷ fuselage length
Range in hours#9 of 65
13.8 h maximum range ÷ cruise speed
Sense of scale

How big is it, really?

The Antonov An-124 Ruslan's wingspan, against things you already know the size of.

Antonov An-124 Ruslan73.3 m
Football pitch (width)68 m
Blue whale25 m
New Routemaster bus11.2 m
You (probably)1.75 m
Specification

The numbers

Length69.10 m
Wingspan73.30 m
Height20.78 m
MTOW402,000 kg
Max payload150,000 kg
Range (40 t payload)≈11,900 km
Engines4 × Progress D-18T
First flight24 December 1982
Built55

Compare it

Put the Antonov An-124 next to something

Last verified: 2026-07-14 · Spot an error? business@luck.fyi

The story

What makes it different

The An-124 is the An-225's older, smaller sibling — and unlike Mriya, it went into real production: 55 built. It out-lifts everything else still flying, with a 150-tonne payload through a nose that hinges up and a rear ramp that opens wide, plus its own onboard cranes so it can load itself at airfields with no equipment.

For three decades the world's outsize cargo market was essentially a duopoly of An-124 operators: Antonov Airlines and Volga-Dnepr, and demand for the type has never been higher. It remains the heavy-lift benchmark: when a payload is too big for anything else, the An-124 is the aircraft that moves it.

Militaries and space programmes still book it months ahead: satellites, generators, helicopters, train locomotives. Nothing else in production carries what it carries.

Common questions

Antonov An-124 Ruslan — the short answers

How fast is the Antonov An-124 Ruslan?
The Antonov An-124 Ruslan cruises at about 865 km/h — roughly 467 knots, or 538 mph.
How far can the Antonov An-124 Ruslan fly?
The Antonov An-124 Ruslan has a maximum range of about 11,900 km (6,425 nautical miles, 7,396 miles). At its cruise speed that is roughly 13.8 hours in the air.
Is the Antonov An-124 Ruslan still in production?
Status: In service. The Antonov An-124 Ruslan first flew in 1982, and about 55 have been built.
How big is the Antonov An-124 Ruslan?
The Antonov An-124 Ruslan is 69.1 m long with a wingspan of 73.3 m and a height of 20.78 m. Its maximum takeoff weight is 402,000 kg.
Variants

The Antonov An-124 Ruslan line

An-124
Soviet military airlifter, 1982.
An-124-100
The civil-certified standard — most of today's fleet.
An-124-100M-150
Modernised, payload raised to 150 tonnes.
Operators

Who flies the Antonov An-124 Ruslan

The top 3 operators by fleet size, of ≈4 worldwide — the rest are aggregated below. Counts marked ≈ are approximate, verified 2026-07-14.

RUVolga-Dnepr AirlinesHeavy-charter operator.≈12
RURussian Aerospace ForcesMilitary transport fleet.≈10
UAAntonov AirlinesHeavy-charter operations worldwide.≈7
Maximus Air (UAE)The sole An-124 operated outside the two big fleets.1