Antonov Airlines flew two sections of maglev trains in a single flight, providing air delivery from the production site in Germany to the operator in China.

Antonov Airlines has completed a unique cargo delivery of two Max Bögl TSB maglev trains from Munich, Germany, to their customer Chengdu Xinzhu Road & Bridge Machinery, Chengdu, China in cooperation with KN Airlift company.

Taking into consideration the dimensions of the lightweight high tech train sections as 12.6 x 2.8 x 3.7 m per section and a total payload of about 36 tons of the two sections, an AN-124-100 aircraft was necessary for such transportation.

As the unique cargo requires unique loading equipment, the special loading/offloading technology and equipment designed by Antonov Airlines was used for loading the train sections into the AN-124-100 aircraft.

(Credit: Antonov Airlines)

A special lashing scheme was designed to secure the trains inside of the aircraft and transport them safely during the flight. On its way to China, the aircraft landed at Almaty, Kazakhstan, for refueling and crew rest.

A unique transporter

Antonov Airlines specializes in the transportation of outsized and project cargo worldwide using its fleet of seven AN-124-100 “Ruslan” aircraft with up to 150 tonnes payload, its 60-tonne payload AN-22, and its unique 250-tonne payload AN-225 “Mriya”, which is the largest aircraft in the world, as well as smaller AN-74 and AN-26 aircraft.

Antonov Airlines is a division of Antonov Company, headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine. The company is a state-owned enterprise, which designs, develops, produces, and maintains the AN aircraft.