It’s
a story as old as the air cargo business itself.
And for Frankfurt Hahn Airport and airplane
builder Antonov it’s a predictable and occasional occurrence.
Air Way Bill “ADB – 005
2242” marks the air cargo world record, and the shipment was
handled at Frankfurt Hahn International Airport.
The heaviest single piece ever flown,
a generator for a gas power station near Erewan, the capital of Armenia
was manufactured by Swiss ALSTOM in their plant near Wrazlaw Poland
and weighed in close to 190 metric tons.
Just like the axiomatic phrase- cargo
always finds the best way to its destination – this one fulfilled
that prophecy – but had to take a circuitous route.
This time it was not the famous “last
mile” that produces headaches in global logistics but the endless
problems that were en route almost everywhere which were solved by
a close cooperation via a network of experts in several countries.
Bridges had to be torn down or reinforced, curbs had to be eased and
electric cables had to be cut, lifted and put in place again to get
the goods delivered. Fritz P. Mumenthaler, chairman of Swiss forwarder
General Transport puts it this way:
“Anybody can move a box from A
to B; we like to solve real problems and our projects are mainly in
exotic and difficult parts of the world.”
The air-portion in this multimodal transport
task was probably one of the easier movements, but tough enough for
the Guinness Book of Records.
With its floor weight spreading rack
the single piece weighing 189.980 kg, a very dense load indeed that
had to be positioned and tied down in the aircraft exactly in “the
sweet spot”.
A major superlative during this August
11, 2009 record shipment at Hahn Airport was the airplane itself.
There is only one ANTONOV 225 in operation;
span 88,4 m, body length 85.3 m, height 18,2 m, volume inside 1200
m_ and a payload of 250 tons on the main deck or 90 tons on top of
the fuselage.
Dedicated to carry the USSR spacecraft
“Buran” in 1988, the AN-225 was mothballed for a number
of years until more and more Ukrainian companies started to trade
with the world – mainly in energy resources.
Now the huge AN 225 aircraft looked
tailor made and handy for just such a job.
The UR 82060 “Mrija” which
means, “Dream” in Ukrainian was put into operation again
and has been available for charters from Antonov Airlines based at
Kiev since 2001.
The AN 225 has recently passed an all
over check and was repainted.
AN 225 is self-sufficient meaning it
accomplishes its mission carrying its own ground equipment etc.
The AN 225 kneels down – for cargo
like tanks or trucks that can load themselves by driving right on
board themselves.
For the record, the world heavyweight
shipment was carried on several different flat-beds, by ocean vessels,
Rhine, and Moselle river barge.
Hahn Airport was selected for the airlift
because of its ideal though not easy access to the Moselle river,
its runway, its 24/7 possibilities and the many Russian speaking handling
agents on the ground where Aeroflot has been a fixture here for years.
The record flight departed at 22:37h
local time and arrived at its destination as scheduled.
Günter Mosler
Looking
at a brand new airline and talking of tradition might seem like an oxymoron.
Juergen
Weber (left) after years at Hamburg-based MRO Lufthansa Technik became
CEO of Lufthansa 1991. 
Air
Cargo News FlyingTypers leads the way again as the world’s first
air cargo publication to connect the industry to the broadly expanding
and interactive base for social commentary—Twitter.
August
13: Zambia may get some air action
as South African Airways dumps int’l routes. Zambian Airways gone
due to financial problems was only Zambian carrier with cross-country
flights. Zambezi Airlines, Airwaves Zambia and Proflight Zambia still
operating.
August
13: United Airlines Cargo up July
5% vs June is best in 9 mos but minus 17 % vs July 2008.First six months
cargo rev. down 46.2% vs 2008.
August
12: LAX buys parking lot (Park One
adjacent Terminal One), from AMB Property Corp.Slumping AMB big in airport
real estate said earnings for first six slipped 72%.
August
12: USAF OK Lockheed Martin
(Savi Technology) RFID tracking and security devices works for
all aircraft including cargo doing business with US DOD.
August
12: Kingfisher adds A320 daily
from Kolkata/ Bangkok friday. BKK is fifth international Kingfisher
and first from India to South East Asia.
AERO,
the big Friedrichshafen Germany air show held where once the giant
Zeppelins reigned demonstrated once again the fascination of flight
and the thrill of discovering new aircraft, something that almost
everyone that works in air cargo shares.
Here
are some thoughts and Friday ideas to share.