AN-225

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

A former captain of what was once the largest cargo airplane in the world, the one-of-a-kind Antonov An-225 Mriya, has revealed details about plans to build a second version of the destroyed airplane.

The general director of Antonov—the Ukrainian company that owned the recently destroyed An-225 Mriya—has apparently been fired, according to a statement posted by state-owned defense manufacturer, Ukroboronprom.

In a video walk-around of the charred wreckage of the Antonov An-225 Mriya, a former pilot of the world’s largest operational aircraft has offered his damage analysis of the one-of-a-kind jet.

Antonov Company, manufacturer of the iconic An-225, the world’s largest cargo airplane which was apparently destroyed last month in Ukraine, has launched a global fundraiser “for the revival of the aircraft.”

Ukraine-based Antonov said it could not confirm the technical condition of the iconic An-225 Mriya until it could access the airfield to inspect it.

Following Russia’s initial invasion, reports circulated that the Antonov An-225 Mriya—the only remaining operational copy of the world’s largest cargo airplane—was destroyed amid fighting.