Go big or go home: Outsized and heavy airfreight in the absence of Antonov aircraft

With freighter aircraft more in demand than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, freight forwarders have found themselves less than picky about how cargo is moving by air. The past two years saw cargo-only flights on luxurious passenger 787 Dreamliners with empty main decks and full lower holds, a variety of designs for bags and straps to secure cargo to seats in the place of missing passengers, and an increased number of third-party logistics companies securing their own airfreight capacity via lease or long-term charter. For many specialty shipments, though, only a specific set of aircraft types will do. This is especially the case for oversized shipments. Aside from the smaller weight and size capacities of narrowbody freighter types, loading certain cargo types can be a challenge that requires specialized equipment — both at the handling stage and for the transportation itself. Securing large freighters has come with additional expenses during the pandemic, and recently became even more challenging as Russia — a country with outsized representation among large freighter operations — invaded Ukraine, the home of Antonov Airlines and the world’s largest commercial freighters. As much of the Western world stands with Ukraine, subsequent sanctions on Russian airlines and the impact on Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines are once again remaking the airfreight landscape. Going big in the air “Contrary to general or popular belief, oversize shipments are handled every day,” said David Adamek, CEO of Prague-based cargo handler Skyport, which regularly handles oversized and heavy shipments. While the outsize designator calls to mind the largest shipments of full automobiles, helicopters, satellites and similar shipments unable to fit through large cargo doors on widebody aircraft, “many airlines consider any shipment above 250 kilograms as heavy or oversize and such a shipment has to carry the correct code ‘HEA,’” said Adamek. However, the oversize projects that highlight the real versatility of freighter aircraft — the “real” oversize shipments, as Adamek describes them — generally fall into three categories: Heavy shipments, such as industrial and aircraft engines, train wheels and drivetrains; Large shipment types most often thought of as outsize cargo, such as automobiles and other vehicles, satellites, agricultural equipment and other machinery; and Large and heavy cargo, such as hydroelectric turbines. The category under which an outsized shipment falls is an important factor in determining the aircraft type required to transport it. Extremely heavy shipments may be moved onboard multiple aircraft types as long as the cargo fits through the cargo door. For example, while the larger cargo types above are usually not moveable on board a 777F, the 777-200F has a maximum payload of more than 100,000 kg, according to a specification sheet from Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, whose subsidiary carriers operate widebody types, including the 747-8F and -400F, 777-200F, 767-300BCF and -300BDSF. In terms of especially large shipments, the potential field of aircraft is much smaller. When cargo cannot fit through a normal cargo door, the nose-loading capabilities of production 747 freighters and Antonov Aircraft freighters come into play. The AN-124, produced by Kyiv, Ukraine-based aeronautics company Antonov, and the various iterations of Boeing’s 747 freighter, are designed with a cargo door at the front of the aircraft, allowing for extremely large cargo to be loaded through the nose. “We have handled many oversize shipments that had to be, and could only be, loaded using the nose-loading feature of both aircraft,” Adamek said. “From our perspective, I can only see positive aspects about the nose-loading feature. It is a great contribution to safety when operating heavy or oversize loads around, in or out of the aircraft.” An outsized fleet Airlines operating 747Fs with nose-loading capabilities that can transport many oversized shipments, are based around the world. Among the largest are subsidiary carriers of U.S.-based Atlas Air Worldwide, Luxembourg’s all-747 cargo carrier Cargolux, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, U.S. express giant UPS and Azerbaijan-based Silk Way West Airlines. Also included is Russia’s Volga-Dnepr Group, which operated nineteen 747Fs as of Jan. 28, according to the most recent widebody fleet analysis from our sister publication Cargo Facts . Volga-Dnepr Group’s subsidiary carriers, Volga-Dnepr Airlines and AirBridgeCargo, are historically major players in the large cargo shipment space. Alongside the 747Fs and 777F operated by AirBridgeCargo, Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ fleet includes eleven AN-124-100 aircraft and five Il-76s from Russian aviation company Ilyushin. Following Russia’s late February invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions imposed by European Union countries, the United Kingdom, Canada and the U.S., among others, the Russian outsized fleet is suddenly inaccessible to many of the world’s largest freight forwarders, charter operators and manufacturers. One such outsize cargo customer is Boeing Commercial Aircraft (BCA), which has frequently turned to Volga-Dnepr Airlines for cargo charters in support of aircraft production to move parts, spares and engines. On Feb. 24, the same day that the long-expected invasion of Ukraine began , Volga-Dnepr Airlines filed an application for an emergency exemption with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to operate six, one-way cargo charter flights using an AN-124 between Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach in Florida and Everett or Seattle in Washington between mid-March and early April. Those charters would have each transported three 767 wing boxes, each more than 8 meters long, 5 meters wide and 3 meters high, and weighing about 23,000 pounds. Those flights did not operate, as U.S. President Joe Biden closed U.S. airspace to Russian aircraft in early March. According to a Boeing spokesperson, the company “work[s] closely with our wide range of supply chain and logistics partners to manage through any potential impacts.” Boeing would not confirm whether 747 freighters could potentially fill the gaps in the supply chain left by the AN-124s. However, information from 747-operator Cargolux for its outsize “CV jumbo” product lists the maximum cargo specifications of 50 meters long, 3.8 meters wide and 3.12 meters tall — not quite fitting the cargo specifications in Volga-Dnepr’s DOT filing. With transportation planned within the continental U.S., however, other modes — such as rail or ocean transit through the Panama Canal — are opened. Antonov aircraft are frequently the option for cargo that falls slightly outside of the range of the 747F. Volga-Dnepr Airlines is not the only AN-124 operator in the game. However, the other major operator, Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines, has faced serious fallout from the Russian invasion. The outsize loss of ‘The Dream’ As fighting continues in Ukraine, the full impact of the war is yet to be revealed. However, even in the earliest days, airports around Kyiv were transformed into battlegrounds, with many freighters operated by Antonov Airlines either targeted directly or caught in the crossfire. At least six of Antonov’s freighters were stranded and damaged at Hostomel Airport (GML) north of Kyiv, including two AN-124s, an AN-178, AN-26, AN-74, AN-28 and the sole AN-225, one of the world’s largest aircraft, as reported by Cargo Facts . Sadly, the AN-225 Mriya, or “The Dream,” was confirmed in a Feb. 27 statement from Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba to have been destroyed by Russian forces at GML, where it had been undergoing maintenance. The loss of that unique freighter will have an outsized effect on global supply chains. “The loss of the AN-225 is terrible news for the airfreight industry and many shippers,” said Skyport’s Adamek. “Shipments that could have easily been transported by airfreight from one end of the world to another within hours will now have to seek alternative means of transport, which unfortunately will never be as fast and effective as transportation on board the AN-225. Furthermore, manufacturers that had the opportunity to ship a complete, finished product will have to resort to shipping only parts and organize for assembly on site at location of delivery, as the capacity of AN-225 is unmatched.” Organizations that had utilized the AN-225 for recent shipments include Gebruder Weiss and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-supported Strategic Airlift International Solution (SALIS). For its part, Gebruder Weiss arranged a November flight for a Polish manufacturer from Tianjin, China, to Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport (RZE), the only flight ever operated by the AN-225 to RZE. Gebruder Weiss had also previously utilized the freighter for a transport to Austria in October, according to a release. “The reason why we chartered the AN-225 was due to the unbelievable size of cargo space, which was also the main argument for our health care customer,” Lothar Thoma, managing director air & sea at Gebruder Weiss, told Air Cargo World . “For many oversized cargoes the 747F nose-loading cargo might be an alternative, but not for all,” said Thoma. “If it counts with really high single weight or outsized dimensions, which a 747-400F can simply not carry, we have no alternatives at the moment. Volga-Dnepr Airlines is not allowed to fly and Antonov Airlines [those aircrafts which are still on duty] are mainly used for relief transports for the time being.” On the other hand, the NATO-supported SALIS mission was a medical supplies transport on short notice from Germany to Namibia. Antonov is a long-time provider of airlift for the SALIS program and had signed another five-year contract in November 2021. Antonov Airlines and the manufacturer were not available for comment. However, after the AN-225 was destroyed, the manufacturer shared a message on Twitter that “The Dream will NEVER die!” The manufacturer is not the only party determined that “The Dream” will live on. In a statement confirming the aircraft’s destruction, state-owned defense corporation Ukroboronprom said, “Mriya will definitely be reborn,” at an estimated cost of more than $3 billion and more than five years of work. “Ukraine will make every effort to ensure that the aggressor state pays for these works,” according to the statement. The Air Cargo Tech Summit, the new airfreight logistics event presented by Air Cargo World , will take place live in Miami from June 6-7. Learn more and register here.

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