Antonov An-124

Antonov An-124

The Antonov An-124 Ruslan (Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-124 «Руслан») (NATO reporting name: Condor) is a strategic airlift jet aircraft. It was designed by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR, then part of the Soviet Union. The An-124 is the world's second largest serially manufactured cargo airplane and world's third largest operating cargo aircraft, behind the one-off Antonov An-225 (an enlarged variant of the An-124) and the Boeing 747-8F.

During development it was known as Izdeliye 400 in house, and An-40 in the West. First flown in 1982, civil certification was issued on 30 December 1992. Over 40 are in service (26 civilian models with airlines and 10 firm orders as of August 2006) and 20 were in commercial use in 1998 in Ukraine, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Libya.