Who made the largest airplane in the world? Not Airbus or Boeing. Not even Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose is bigger. It’s from a former Soviet enterprise. The AN225 it was designed and built by Antonov in Ukraine. Originally built to transport the Buran orbiter (Russian Space Shuttle), it is an enlargement of the successful An-124 Ruslan. Mriya means “Dream” (Inspiration) in Ukrainian.With a maximum gross weight of 640 tons (1,411,000 lb), the An-225 is the world’s heaviest and largest aircraft. The Hughes H-4 Hercules, known to most as the “Spruce Goose”, had a greater wingspan and a greater overall height, but was considerably shorter, and due to the materials used in its construction, also lighter. In addition, the Hercules only flew once and never climbed above 70 ft (21.3 m), making the An-225 the largest aircraft in the world to take off multiple times.[2] The An-225 is also larger than the Airbus A380 airliner, and considerably bigger than the Antonov An-124, Boeing 747-400ERF, and Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, the nearest equivalent heavy airlifters.
In November 2004, FAI placed the An-225 in the Guinness Book of Records for its 240 records.
The Antonov AN-225 is commercially available for flying any over-sized payload due the unique size of its cargo deck. Currently there is only one aircraft operating but a second mothballed airframe is being reconditioned and is scheduled for completion around mid to late 2008.
Videos of the AN-225 :
