Airbus A380- This is the largest aircraft in the world. More precisely, a passenger plane.

The height of this giant is 24 meters (~ 8th floor of a residential building), the length and wingspan are almost 80 meters. On 2 decks in a three-class cabin, 525 passengers can freely accommodate, in a single-class configuration - 853!

12 billion euros were spent on the development of the Airbus A380. He can do non-stop flights at a distance of up to 15,400 km, and the maximum take-off weight of the aircraft is amazing - 560 tons.

welcome aboard the largest passenger aircraft in the world!

At the beginning of October, another dream related to aviation came true. Lufthansa invited you on a press tour to show off one of its new Airbus aircraft A380. The demonstration flight took place as part of a promotional campaign for the A380 show in European capitals.

It was possible not only to board the regular A380, but also to make a circular journey on a giant plane along the route Frankfurt - Prague - Budapest - Frankfurt, be with the pilots in the cockpit and film the work of the pilots during takeoff, flight and landing.

IN ordinary life these giants will not land at any such airport, so many were waiting for the arrival of the A380 in the capitals of the Czech Republic and Hungary. Looking ahead, I will say that I did not even expect such ceremonial meetings and such a number of spectators.



“Our” A380 had just arrived from Johannesburg and while the cleaning team was putting the cabins in order. At this time, the co-pilot walked with a flashlight and inspected the engine blades:

The sun rose, it was time for us to take off:

First floor of an A380-800 modification aircraft- these are three economy class cabins for 420 passengers. In total, this A380 carries 526 passengers. By the end of the year, Lufthansa will already have 8 of the 18 ordered. The company is investing about five billion euros in aircraft and airport infrastructure, maintenance, and crew training.

Passenger seats Lufthansa's economy class was developed by the famous German company Recaro. To be honest, I didn’t really like them - the backs are a bit thin and any movement of the passenger in front affects the comfort of the person behind.

Excellent design portholes. With their standard external size Inside the aircraft they appear larger due to the enlarged internal frame. This large oval creates the impression of open space inside the cabin.

The plane is very “quiet”, the engines are almost inaudible. I was surprised by the short takeoff run - I was watching the takeoff in Budapest, I thought that we would be running along the runway for a long time, but the plane took off almost immediately.

The multimedia center with a 9″ screen is very good. In addition to the standard set with music, films and games, the monitor displays images from three external cameras and complete information about the flight. Distance between seats 79 cm, seat width 52 cm:

During the flight, the aircraft interiors were completely at our disposal - we could walk everywhere, sit, lie down, press buttons, climb into all the holes.

Standard breakfast and lunch sets were demonstrated. Special thanks, of course, to Lufthansa for the metal devices in economy class. It’s high time for Aeroflot to switch to them.

For ease of photographing, I asked the flight attendant to turn on full lighting in the cabins. It didn't get noticeably better, but still:

On the second floor- two business class cabins. They say that the company's management doesn't really like these seats and they will change them. There are 98 of them here - an incredible number for an ordinary passenger airliner. The set of options is standard for a modern business class - almost horizontal folding, individual light, socket and USB port for each:

In business class monitors size 10.6″, distance between seats from 145 to 152 cm, seat width 67 cm:

Between the business class and first class cabins there is a huge vestibule with a kitchen and seats for flight attendants:

A subject of special pride for any serious airline - first class cabin. On the Lufthansa A380 it seats eight passengers. Everything here is done practically, but without frills, such as separate cabins. Eight chairs that transform into beds, each seat has a 17″ monitor. Distance between seats 213 cm, seat width 80 cm:

Lufthansa calls these seats the best in their class:

Each first class passenger has his own wardrobe for clothes and belongings:

First class passengers have two such toilet rooms. There is no shower here; the Germans consider it unnecessary; in their experience, few people use a shower during a flight.

A flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo and back will cost a first class passenger 10,000 euros:

So, we are flying to Prague. They are already ready for the ceremonial welcome of the A380 megaliner:

Lufthansa chief pilot Werner Knorr:

The cockpit equipment resembles that installed in the A330 or A321 - in front of the pilots there is only a keyboard and a joystick on the side:

There are hundreds of people below, along the entire landing route - people are standing on the field, on the hills, on the roofs of houses:

I asked one of the Czech photographers at the airport to send me a couple of shots of our flight. Thank you, Vojtech.

The cost of one A380 is $345 million.

To the right of the entrance to the cabin is the crew rest cabin:

You can get to the second floor by two stairs - in front and behind economy class:

A380 at Budapest Airport:

This list contains the 10 most large aircraft in the world ever built. The rating includes aircraft such as passenger aviation, as well as cargo and transport liners. There are more detailed materials about some of them, for example An Mriya, and we will talk about some of them for the first time. The list is presented in descending order.

Dornier Do X
The Dornier Do X was the largest, heaviest, and most powerful aircraft in the world when it was produced by the German company Dornier in 1929. Essentially, it is more of a passenger flying boat than a classic airplane.

Tupolev Ant-20
Tupolev Ant-20, or Maxim Gorky, was named after Maxim Gorky and dedicated to the 40th anniversary of his literary and social activities. The Ant-20 was the largest known aircraft to adopt the Junkers design philosophy, with corrugated sheet steel in many key airframe components.

Boeing 747 Dreamlifter
This larger version of the Boeing 747, called the Dreamlifter, is used exclusively to transport parts of the Boeing 787 aircraft to the company's assembly plants from suppliers in other parts of the world.

Boeing 747-8
The Boeing 747-8 is the largest version of the 747, as well as the largest commercial aircraft built in the United States and the longest passenger aircraft in the world. That's how many records this outstanding aircraft has.

Boeing 747
The original version of the Boeing 747 had two and a half times the passenger capacity of the Boeing 707, one of the commercial aviation giants of the 1960s.

Antonov AN-22
The Antonov 22 is a heavy military transport aircraft designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in Kharkov. The aircraft is powered by four turboprop air-breathing engines. The AN-22 became the first Soviet wide-body aircraft and remains the world's largest four-engine turboprop high-wing aircraft with a twin fin and tail cargo hatch to this day.

Antonov An-124
Antonov 124 is a strategic aircraft for air freight transport. One of the largest aircraft in the world was developed by the Antonov design bureau. The 124 is the second tallest cargo aircraft in the world after the Boeing 747-8F and the third heaviest cargo aircraft in the world.

Airbus A380
The double-deck Airbus A380 is a wide-body airliner with four engines. It is the largest passenger airliner in the world. Many airports have had to upgrade their runways to accommodate its size. The A380 made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 and began commercial service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines.

Airbus A340
Second on the list is the Airbus A340. It seats up to 375 passengers in standard versions and 440 in enlarged versions. Depending on the model, the A-340 can travel from 12,400 to 17,000 km on one fill.

The largest aircraft is An-225 Mriya
An-225 Mriya - a strategic cargo aircraft for air transportation, designed by Antonov Design Bureau in the 1980s. Mriya is translated from Ukrainian as Dream. The aircraft is powered by six turbofan engines and is the largest in the world, with a maximum take-off weight of 640 tons. Currently, only one version has been built, but a second Mriya is also being prepared for release.

A hundred years ago, no one would have thought that huge colossus weighing tens of tons would be able to rise into the air and carry gigantic loads. Now this is a reality, but still, every time we see these giants, we are surprised how the design idea made their flight possible.

An-225 "Mriya"

In 1985, the Soviet Union was looking for solutions to create transport system for its reusable spacecraft Burana. There was an urgent need for an aerial vehicle capable of transporting multi-ton spacecraft parts to the place of its assembly and launch. As a result, a project for a cargo aircraft was proposed, called the An-225.

The creation of this giant became possible thanks to the hard work and cooperation of design bureaus throughout the USSR. In Voronezh, Kyiv, Moscow, Tashkent and dozens of other cities, thousands of scientists and engineers implemented the most daring project in the history of aeronautics. It took a huge country three years to turn the idea of ​​the An-225 into reality: the first flight of the An-225 Mriya aircraft, assembled at the Kiev Mechanical Plant, took place on December 21, 1988.

“Mriya” is translated from Ukrainian as “dream”. And thanks to the efforts of thousands of people, this dream became a reality.

The parameters of the An-225 are amazing: its wingspan is 88.4 meters, its length is 84 meters, and it can carry a cargo weighing 250 tons!

The An-225 Mriya was built in a single copy and is currently in working condition, regularly performing flights.

Stratolaunch Model 351

On May 31, 2017, the Stratolaunch Model 351 aircraft with a record wingspan of 117.3 meters was presented to the general public, which is only slightly inferior in maximum take-off weight to the An-225: 590 tons versus 640 tons. The vehicle has a double-fuselage design and is equipped with six jet engines.

The creation of the giant aircraft Stratolaunch Model 351 is also associated with space launches. It is assumed that during the flight this aircraft will launch rockets intended for launch into low-Earth orbit.

So far, the Stratolaunch Model 351 has never flown and is being tested on the surface. Just the other day, to test the operation of the landing gear and braking system, the plane made a test run on the runway, during which it accelerated to 74 km/h. It is planned that the machine will make its first flight in 2019.

It’s one thing when an ordinary plane, even one designed for a couple of hundred passengers, takes off into the air, and quite another thing when a creation of the human mind tens of meters long, capable of transporting hundreds of tons of cargo over thousands of kilometers, appears in the sky.

IN different time honorary title big plane Different winged cars were worn around the world. For example, among them in the 1930s was the unique 8-engine propaganda aircraft ANT-20 “Maxim Gorky”. Today there are other leaders in this field, although the records they set many decades ago still hold. Around the World invites you to meet some of these record-breakers.

The very best: AN-225 “Mriya”

This is the aircraft with the world's largest payload capacity (can carry cargo with a total weight of 250 tons) and the largest take-off weight (more than 640 tons), as well as the largest in length and wing span that entered service. First, let’s look at the dimensions: the length of “Mriya” (in Ukrainian “Dream”) is 84 meters, and its wingspan is 88.4 meters. As an example, we point out here that a football field that complies with FIFA recommendations has dimensions of 105x68 meters, and Red Square in Moscow has dimensions of 330x75 meters.

The Mriya's cargo compartment is a sealed space 43 meters long, 6.4 meters wide and 4.4 meters high (that is, approximately two-storey house), it can fit, for example, 50 cars. The aircraft was invented and built in 1984–1988 at the Kiev Mechanical Plant to transport parts of the Buran spacecraft and launch vehicle from the production site to the launch site, as well as, if necessary, the entire Buran - it was supposed to be placed on the “back” of the “ Mriya."

AN-225 at the Swedish airport Stockholm-Arlanda

However, this giant did not perform its main duties for long: by 1990, all work within the framework of the Energia-Buran program was curtailed, and the AN-225 stood half-disassembled from 1994 to 2001. It was restored by 2001 and has since been regularly used to transport heavy loads, including record-breaking transport operations.

"Mriya" has already made flights with the longest (42.1-meter wind turbine blades) and heaviest monocargo (a generator weighing 174 tons), as well as with cargo with the largest total weight - 253.8 tons. In total, Mriya has more than 200 world records of this kind. The plane exists in a single copy, it is operated by a Ukrainian airline Antonov Airlines, however, it is possible that in a year or two, with the help of the Kyiv Antonov Design Bureau and the Chinese company AICC a second one will be completed.

Giant flying boat: Hughes H-4 Hercules

In the previous part, we mentioned that the AN-225 Mriya is an aircraft with the largest wingspan among all those that entered service. This reservation is not accidental: in the history of aviation there was an even larger aircraft, but it made only one test flight at an altitude of 21 meters and a length of about 1.5 km. It's about Hughes H-4 Hercules, a giant flying boat built by 1947 by the brilliant (and crazy) American aviator and businessman Howard Hughes.

The 8-engine monster created by Hughes, 66.6 meters long with a wingspan of 97.5 meters, was conceived as a means of transporting cargo, military equipment(with a total weight of about 70 tons) and up to 750 soldiers across the Atlantic from the USA to Europe. The project started in 1942 with money from the American government, but its implementation dragged on for five long years. Now the Second World War is over, but the mega-boat still hasn’t taken off.

In the end, this alerted the American government and Congress, under whose pressure Howard Hughes nevertheless made a test flight on November 2, 1947, near the Californian city of San Pedro. First and last flight. Until Hughes' death in 1976, the Hercules was maintained in flying condition, and then passed from hand to hand until it finally ended up in the aviation museum in McMinnville, Oregon, where it remains to this day - you'll be in Oregon , be sure to check it out.


Hughes H-4 Hercules during testing

The most remarkable thing about this plane is not even the largest wingspan of any aircraft ever flown, but the fact that the machine was built from birch, or rather, from birch plywood: the shortage of aluminum during the war had an impact. Despite this, the plane received the nickname "spruce goose" (Spruce Goose)- it has become synonymous with the expression “white elephant”. Let us also add that Hughes H-4 Hercules- also the largest seaplane in the history of aviation.

Largest passenger: Airbus A380

First place in this category Airbus A380 in modification 800. This is generally the largest production airliner in the world: height - 24.1 meters, length - 72.8 meters, wingspan - 79.8 meters, on its two decks it can carry a total of up to 853 people (in a one-class configuration ) over a distance of 15,700 km.

It is on this aircraft that the second and third longest commercial flights are operated today - from Auckland, New Zealand to Dubai (about 17 hours) and from Dallas, Texas, to Sydney, Australia (about 16 hours). During this time, aircraft cover approximately a third of the length of the equator (first place in the length of a commercial flight since February 2017). Qatar Airways from Oakland to Doha by Boeing 777-200LR).


A380 towed to the runway

In the plans Airbus creating larger versions of this airliner - even more spacious A380-900 for 900 passengers (all in economy class), as well as a cargo version A380F, which will be second after Mriya in terms of carrying capacity. And both of them, presumably, will be even larger in length and wingspan. So far, however, not a single such aircraft has been built: there are no required number of orders for them.

Longest passenger: Boeing 747-8

Interestingly, the gigantic size and record capacity Airbus A380- not the longest passenger aircraft in the world. This title is held by the former number one among airliners. Boeing 747 in version 8. Boeing 747-8 is the third generation of the double-deck 747, which made its first flight back in 1969 and entered commercial service about a year later.

This aircraft holds a record for size, weight and capacity among passenger airliners lasted 36 years - just before the appearance Airbus A380. At the same time, some of his records have not yet been broken. Yes, exactly Boeing 747-400 in 1989, made the longest non-stop flight for a commercial airliner, covering a distance of more than 18,000 km from London to Sydney in 20 hours 9 minutes. There was no cargo or passengers on board.


Boeing 747-8I German airline Lufthansa

Boeing 747-8 It is produced in two versions - passenger (747-8I) and cargo (747 -8F). And in the near future, another highly specialized one will probably appear: the US Air Force is eyeing the 747-8 as the future “Air Force One” - for the President of the United States. Now this role is played by the 747-200, which was heavily redesigned in comparison with the production version, and was put into operation in the late 1980s. It is noteworthy that a Russian trace appears here: they are going to convert it into a presidential aircraft. Boeing 747-8I, ordered by a broke Russian company"Transaero" and is now in storage in the Mojave Desert in the USA (thanks to climatic conditions aircraft stored there at a special training ground are practically not subject to corrosion).

The most voluminous: Boeing 747 Dreamlifter

Surprisingly, the giant Mriya was not omnipotent. When companies Boeing it was necessary to establish supply chains for parts for the latest Boeing 787 Dreamliner, its capabilities were not enough to transport parts of the Dreamliner's wings and fuselage from Japan and Europe to a plant in Washington state. Moreover, none of the then existing aircraft (the Soviet AN-124 and Boeing's own 747 -400F) were suitable for the company, and transporting components by sea would have taken too long. Then the engineers Boeing developed (note, not without the participation of the company’s Moscow bureau) a modified version Boeing 747 by calling her Dreamlifter.


Boeing Dreamlifter V International airport Chubu (Japan)

The difference between this, frankly, rather ugly aircraft (President of Commercial Division Boeing Scott Carson even had to jokingly apologize to the creator of the 747, Joe Sutter, “for what [they] did to his plane”) visible to the naked eye: the 747 is noticeably swollen - the diameter of the plane’s body has been significantly increased, and it opens for loading sideways tail section.

As a result, engineers managed to achieve a record volume inside of 1840 cubic meters. notice, that Dreamlifter not unique. Previously, the American Aero Spacelines Super Guppy(it was and is used to transport spacecraft parts) and the European Airbus Beluga, which delivers aircraft parts to the Toulouse plant. Both of them, however, have a smaller usable volume.

Potential Champion: Scaled Composites Model 351

May 31, 2017 in the Mojave Desert from a hangar with a crowd of public and journalists Scaled Composites Model 351- double-fuselage, 6-engine aircraft, element of the aerospace air launch system Stratolaunch, designed to lift rockets to a height of 11 kilometers Pegasus XL, from where they will be able to launch into space, spending significantly less fuel and, therefore, having more payload on board.

This launch scheme is not new - for the first time, launching aircraft from other aircraft was invented back in the first half of the last century: in the 1930s, two airships were built in the USA, from which they were supposed to launch not large planes. And after World War II, first in the 1970s in the USA (project Convoy Virtus), and then in the 1990s in our country (project “Molniya-1000”, also known as “Hercules”), projects were developed for launching spacecraft from superplanes. So far, however, none of them, including the one described Startolaunch, didn't take off.

But a much smaller one took off White Knight Two, a similar design twin-fuselage carrier aircraft built by the same Scaled Composites for the air launch of a tourist spaceplane SpaceShipTwo billionaire Richard Branson. In 2010 SpaceShipTwo made its first flight, separating from the carrier in the air White Knight.


SpaceShipTwo(center) and carrier aircraft White Knight Two, analog Scaled Composites Model 351

If the flight Scaled Composites Model 351 ever take place, this aircraft will break the record Hughes H-4 Hercules by wingspan of any aircraft ever flown: with a length of 71 meters, the wing length Startolaunch(and technically it has one solid wing connecting both fuselages) is 117 meters.

Photo: Larske / commons.wikimedia.org, commons.wikimedia.org, Monty Rakusen / Getty Images, Kiefer / commons.wikimedia.org, Muroi 8210 / commons.wikimedia.org, Virgin Galactic / Mark Greenberg / commons.wikimedia.org

Aviation, like many areas of engineering, is no stranger to gigantism.

Today we've rounded up some of the largest and most impressive aircraft ever to fly.

Not only the dry dimensions were considered, but also the significance for world aviation, as well as the originality of the design and purpose.

Tupolev ANT-20 "Maxim Gorky"

Built in honor of the 40th anniversary of the literary activity of Maxim Gorky, the ANT-20 with 8 engines and a wingspan of 61 meters was the largest aircraft of its time. After a successful test flight on June 17, 1934, "Maxim Gorky" lazily cut through air space over Red Square, striking the imagination of residents of the then young Soviet state with its dimensions. Inside the wings there were places equipped for sleeping, and in the central part one could find a printing house, a laboratory and even a library. It was assumed that the aircraft would be used in a very wide range of areas: from broadcasting (and not only) propaganda to entertainment passenger flights. However, the further history of the ANT-20 is tragic: on May 18, 1935, an accident occurred, as a result of which the only copy of the aircraft crashed and the entire crew with 35 passengers on board died. Neither the ANT-20 nor its modifications ever entered mass production.

Characteristics and dimensions:

Length: 33 m
Wingspan: 63 m
Crew: 20 people.
Number of passengers: 60-70 people.
Max. flight speed: 275 km/h
Flight range: 1000 km
Max. take-off weight: 53 t

"Hercules" still retains the high-profile status of the largest seaplane in history and the owner of the largest wingspan (98 meters), although it was created under the leadership of the American tycoon Howard Hughes during the Second World War. Several circumstances spoil the picture: intended to transport 750 soldiers in full equipment across the Atlantic, “Hercules” never crossed the ocean and remained in a single copy, and a wooden one at that. Such an exotic material for aviation was chosen due to the restrictions imposed by the martial law in which the US economy found itself - there was a shortage of metals, especially aluminum. In 1947, the wooden Hercules still took off, but further development of the project was abandoned.

Characteristics and dimensions:

Length: 66.45 m
Wingspan: 97.54 m
Crew: 3 people
Number of passengers: 750 people. (intended for metal version)
Max. flight speed: 565 km/h
Flight range: 5634 km
Max. take-off weight: 180 t

An-22 "Antey"

The first Soviet wide-body aircraft, however, it is still the largest in the world in the category of aircraft with turboprop engines. The first flight was in 1965, and is still used today in Russia and Ukraine.

Characteristics and dimensions:

Length: 57.31 m
Wingspan: 64.40 m
Crew: 5-7 people.
Number of passengers: 28 people accompanying the cargo/290 soldiers/202 wounded/150 paratroopers
Max. flight speed: 650 km/h
Flight range: 8500 km (no load)
Max. take-off weight: 225 t

The legendary "Stratospheric Fortress" first took to the skies in 1952 and still serves the needs of the US Air Force. One of the largest strategic missile-carrying bombers, the B-52 was intended to deliver thermonuclear bombs anywhere in the USSR, but over time it underwent several modifications and became multi-functional. After the start of operation, it was used in almost all US military campaigns, and was often involved in conducting nuclear tests. In addition to bombs, it has laser-guided missiles. The most common modification is the B-52H.

Features and Dimensions (Model B-52H):

Length: 48.5 m
Wingspan: 56.4 m
Crew: 5 people
Number of passengers: crew only
Max. flight speed: 1047 km/h
Flight range: 16232 km (no load)
Max. take-off weight: 220 t

Pride US Air Force, developed by the aerospace company Lockheed. Having made its first flight in 1968, the C-5 strategic military transport aircraft in various modifications has survived to this day and into given time continues to be used by the US military. It was used in many military conflicts: in Vietnam, in Yugoslavia, in both wars in Iraq, and also in Afghanistan. Until 1982, it was the largest cargo aircraft in mass production. Purpose – transportation of military equipment and personnel to any point globe. At the moment, the US Air Force already has 19 aircraft of the latest high-tech modification, the C-5M Super Galaxy (beginning of operation in February 2014). By 2018 it is planned to increase their number to 52.

Features and Dimensions (Model C-5M Super Galaxy):

Length: 75.53 m
Wingspan: 67.91 m
Crew: 7 people
Number of passengers: no data
Max. flight speed: 922 km/h
Flight range: 11711 km
Max. take-off weight: 381 t

An-124 "Ruslan"

The largest operational military aircraft in the world at the moment. Designed to transport both military equipment and personnel. Developed by the Antonov Design Bureau, the first flight took place in 1982. Now it is used both in Russia and Ukraine, and for civilian purposes - for example, for the transportation of non-standard and large-sized cargo. So, in 2011, Ruslan transported an entire locomotive weighing 109 tons from Canada to Ireland.

Characteristics and dimensions:

Length: 69.1 m
Wingspan: 73.3 m
Crew: 8 people
Number of passengers: 28 people.
Max. flight speed: 865 km/h
Flight range: 16500 km (no load)
Max. take-off weight: 392 t

The largest production passenger aircraft (airliner) in the world. The wingspan is almost 80 meters, with a capacity of up to 853 passengers. Developed by the European concern Airbus S.A.S., made its first flight in 2007, and is actively used by airlines. The design makes extensive use of composite materials to reduce the weight of the aircraft. With its appearance on the market, it became a worthy competitor to the aging Boeing 747.

Characteristics and dimensions:

Length: 73.1 m
Wingspan: 79.75 m
Crew: 2 people
Number of passengers: 853 people. (in single-class configuration)
Max. flight speed: 1020 km/h
Flight range: 15200 km
Max. take-off weight: 575 t

Each of us has seen this plane at least once in our lives. Since its first flight in 1969, the 747 has remained the largest passenger airliner for a full 37 years – until the arrival of the Airbus A380. Used by airlines around the world. The legendary nature of this aircraft is proven, however, not only by the long and successful “life” of its modifications. In 1991, the Boeing 747 set a world record for the transportation of passengers: during the military operation “Solomon” to transport Ethiopian Jews to Israel, 1,112 passengers managed to fit on board the 747 and reach their destination at once. Among other things, this aircraft was also used to transport spacecraft of the Space Shuttle program from the production site to the spaceport. The 747-8I modification is the world's longest passenger aircraft.

Features and Dimensions (Model 747-8I):

Length: 76.4 m
Wingspan: 68.5 m
Crew: 2 people

Max. flight speed: 1102 km/h
Flight range: 14100 km
Max. take-off weight: 448 t

"Beluga" is a modification of the Airbus family, distinguished by its unique hull shape. This aircraft is not as large compared to the others, but its purpose is to transport the largest cargo. In particular, parts of other Airbus aircraft. The first flight took place in 1994.

Characteristics and dimensions:

Length: 56.15 m
Wingspan: 44.84 m
Crew: 2 people
Number of passengers: 605 people. (in single-class configuration)
Max. flight speed: 1000 km/h
Flight range: 4632 km (with a load of 26 tons)
Max. take-off weight: 155 t

An-225 "Mriya" (Dream)

This giant needs even less introduction than the Boeing 747. The legendary An-225 is objectively recognized as the largest (wing span - almost 88.5 meters, total length - 84 meters, or 25 floors of a residential building) and heaviest (capable of lifting into the air from with a total weight of up to 640 tons) aircraft ever created by man.

The An-225 made its first flight in December 1988. Initially, it was supposed to be used to transport Buran spacecraft, but after the collapse of the USSR, the need for it disappeared. In the early 2000s, the Mriya was restored by combining the capabilities of several Ukrainian enterprises, and the only working copy of the An-225 is now operated by Ukraine for commercial purposes.

Characteristics and dimensions:

Length: 84 m
Wingspan: 88.4 m
Crew: 6 people
Number of passengers: 88 people accompanying the cargo
Max. flight speed: 850 km/h
Flight range: 15400 km
Max. take-off weight: 640 t