Russia’s Motor Sich OJSC and Ukraine’s Antonov Design Bureau announced recently that they would jointly resume production of the Antonov 124 “Ruslan” cargo plane. The An-124 and its successor, the An-225, were originally designed in the late 1970s to support Soviet oil and gas development in Siberia, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, all new production of Antonovs came to halt. Volga-Dnepr and ADB expressed their intention to extend their fl eets with modernised AN-124-100-150 freighters and place an order for seventeen freighters within the resumed production framework. Motor Sich is ready to modernise its D-180 series IV engine for the aircraft.

The modernization includes the installation of new navigation systems, the introduction of a modernised brake system and reverse thrust, and noise reduction system. The Ruslan is the only freighter to carry cargo up to 150 tonmes and 6.5 metres in diameter.

The outsize cargo market is growing up to 9 per cent per annum faster than the scheduled cargo market. In 2006, the total market was valued at about US$0.7 billion (1.7 per cent of the global cargo market), but by 2020, the market is expected to be worth more than US$3 billion,growing to US$7 billion by 2030.