Volga-Dnepr operated its first modified IL-76 flight, carrying an emergency shipment of 10 metre pipes from the Australian airfield of Townsville, bound for Noumea in New Caledonia.

The charter required a 72 hours response time over the course of a weekend and called for the use of a carrier with a self-loading, ramp freighter that was also able to meet the strict Australian civil aviation regulations, Volga-Dnepr said.

Unlike older versions of the IL-76, the modernised IL-76TD-90VD freighter is approved for worldwide operations and flies to and from Australia under an Australian Foreign Operators’ Certificate issued by the country’s regulatory authority, CASA.