Take A Look At The World's Largest Aircraft That Landed In KLIA For The Third Time
The plane landed in Malaysia for the first time in 2007, and for the second in 2016.
By Katrina Khairul Azman — 15 Apr 2018, 05:25 PM
Malaysia welcomed the world’s largest aircraft, the Antonov An-225, for the third time in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) yesterday, 14 April
The plane named Mriya, which is Ukranian for "dream" or "inspiration", landed in KLIA at 7.10am for its third stop after Leipzig, Germany and Dammam, Saudi Arabia to deliver heavy cargo, Bernama reported.
Malaysia is the only Asean country to have had the one of a kind aircraft land in its airport, with its debut being in 2007 when it landed at KLIA and brought five helicopters for the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition.
The plane landed in Malaysia second time in 2016 for refuelling purposes.
At 84 metres long and 18 metres high, the aircraft is currently the world’s longest and heaviest plane, comparable to a five-story building
The enormous plane, which can carry a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes, is powered by six engines, equipped with 32 tyres and has a wingspan measuring 88 metres, Mriya's pilot chief Antonov Dmytrov told Bernama.
"The airplane was developed in the 1980's for the Soviet Union shuttle program to carry the space shuttle on its back," said the pilot, who has flown the cargo plane for 16 years.
150 people in KLIA were lucky enough to witness the plane in person when it landed at the airport to refuel
Mohamad Nor Fathin Zulkifli, a Malaysia Airlines technician, described the experience as a "once in a lifetime opportunity."
Also present to welcome Mriya at KLIA was Ukranian Ambassador to Malaysia Olexander Nechytaylo, who expressed his pride for the invention made by the Ukranian people
"I'm very pleased its here in Malaysia so that Malaysians can see it with their own eyes," he said.
"I hope to see the Malaysian government and local companies here to use the service of this plane more often and we would render assistance to facilitate the procedure of transporting or delivering equipment or assets from here."
