World’s biggest plane to draw crowds to Shannon
THE world’s largest airplane is due to arrive in Shannon this morning – and plane spotters from all over the country are expected to converge on the airport.
The Antonov 225 Mriya – the name means ‘dream’ in Ukrainian – was designed and built in the Ukraine and first flew on December 21, 1988.
The six-engined monster, with its 32 wheels, is now operated by Antonov Airlines, and holds over 300 world records for transporting oversized loads. Because of its size, the An-225 requires a runway of between 3,000 and 3,500m in length to take off, making Shannon’s, at 3,199m, the only one in Ireland capable of handling the plane.
The six-storey high jet was designed mainly to transport the Russian space shuttle Buran to its launch site.
Its wingspan of 88.4m is wider than the runway at Shannon, which is 61m wide. The plane was due in Shannon at 3.30am today and is scheduled to depart again at 10pm this evening.
Operations director at Shannon Airport Niall Maloney said: ‘We had over 2,000 aviation enthusiasts here in May 2013 when it last landed at Shannon and we will be expecting a big crowd again to come and see it throughout Sunday. We would urge people intending to travel to check in with our Twitter and Facebook accounts where we will be confirming the aircraft’s arrival or otherwise.
‘There are a number of vantage points to view the aircraft, including the viewing gallery in the airport and an outdoor viewing area,’ he added.