New Video Shows Last Flight of An-225 'Mriya,' the World’s Largest Airplane

Air charter company 26Aviation honors the destroyed one-of-a-kind airlifter.

Tuesday, August 23, 2022 at 11:32 AM ET

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A new video features the final flight of what had been the world’s largest airplane, the Antonov An-225 Mriya. [Courtesy: 26Aviation]

Key Takeaways:

The Antonov An-225 Mriya, once the world's largest operational airplane, was destroyed at Ukraine's Gostomel Airport during Russia's invasion.
Its final flight on February 4, 2022, chartered by 26Aviation, involved transporting humanitarian cargo from China to Denmark.
The 33-year-old Cold War-era lifter, nicknamed "dream" (Mriya in Ukrainian), was originally designed for the Soviet space shuttle and later became a record-setting commercial cargo transport.
There are plans to rebuild Mriya using an existing unfinished second airframe, though the project's certainty is clouded by the ongoing war in Ukraine.

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London-based air charter company 26Aviation released a tribute video Tuesday, showing “the last ever” flight of the Antonov An-225 Mriya, just weeks before the world’s largest airplane was destroyed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“On February 4th, 2022, Mriya flew its last mission,” says the video, which was posted on 26Aviation’s YouTube channel. “26Aviation arranged the final charter flight captured in the following footage.”