Giant Antonov plane stops for two hours at Cairns Airport
Far North plane spotters were treated to a glimpse of one of the world’s biggest aircraft when an Antonov An-124 made a brief stop at Cairns Airport this morning.
Cairns
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cairns. Followed categories will be added to My News.
FAR North plane spotters were treated to a glimpse of one of the world’s biggest aircraft on Friday morning.
A Volga-Dnepr Airlines Antonov An-124-100 touched down at Cairns Airport at 7am.
It departed just over two hours later at 9.20am.
A Cairns Airport spokeswoman said the Antonov landed in the Far North for a fuel stop.
The aircraft had come from Port Moresby and was bound for Indonesia.
MORE NEWS
ScoMo flags Australia’s next travel bubble
Direct flights begin between Cairns, New Zealand
Men, aircraft still missing in jungle after 49 years
Antonov aircraft have visited Cairns roughly once a year for the past few years, for varying reasons.
In 2019 one was parked at Cairns Airport for a month after delivering helicopters from Singapore to Rockhampton for a military exercise.
The strategic airlift jet was designed in the 1980s by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR, then part of the Soviet Union.
It attracts huge interest from plane-spotters due to its immense size.
Recently, Antonov aircraft have been used to ferry COVID-19 medical supplies around the world.
Originally published as Giant Antonov plane stops for two hours at Cairns Airport
‘We can’t fall apart now’: Mud army mobilised for Cardwell clean up
Questions have been raised about how a Far North council has managed a Cardwell flood disaster as residents now start out on the long road to recovery by moving mountains of waterlogged possessions and mucking out homes coated in mud.
Cairns FM89.1 celebrates four decades riding the airwaves
ON February 8, 1985, Cairns made radio history when it launched its first local High Fidelity Stereo FM station – 4CCR – now Cairns FM89.1, 40 years later the team are still thriving as ‘the voices of the community’ across our airwaves.