Antonov An-225 flies into Perth carrying generator for Worsley

The Antonov An-225 is making the long journey from Ukraine to Perth, where it will land on Sunday about 10am.

The Antonov An-225 takes off from Gostomel airport in Ukraine for Perth.

It weighs more than 100 African elephants and could comfortably swallow the fuselage of a Boeing 737 with room to spare, and come this weekend the world’s largest aircraft will touch down at Perth Airport.

The Antonov An-225 is making the long journey from Gostomel airport in Ukraine to Perth, where the six-engined aircraft — that can fly with a total weight of 640 tonnes — will land on Sunday about 10am to deliver a 117-tonne power generator to aluminium ore mining company Worsley Alumina.

Measuring in at 84m long, 18.1m high and with a wing span of 84.4m, the Antonov is the longest and heaviest aircraft ever built.

Conceived and built in Ukraine in the 1980s, the aircraft was originally designed as an airborne tow truck for the now-defunct Soviet space shuttle program but has since become a specialist transporter of ultra-heavy equipment.

The Antonov’s smaller sibling — the AN-124, which weighs 405 tonnes with a full belly — was used to deliver the National Broadband Network’s 6.4 tonne Sky Muster satellite to French Guiana for its orbital launch last year.

The Antonov has made several refuelling stopovers on its way to Australia, including in the Czech Republic, Turkmenistan, India and Indonesia. Unencumbered by its heavy payload, the aircraft is capable of flying about 18 hours on a full tank.

Hordes of aviation enthusiasts are expected to turn up at Perth Airport to see the gigantic plane touch down, against the wind.

Despite the aircraft’s massive size, Perth Airport has not had to make any adjustments or upgrades to its runways to account for the plane’s weight.

The airport has allocated its main runway — runway 21 — for the landing, where the Antonov will taxi north past a special Antonov Event Zone before being parked opposite the international terminal on a remote bay.

It is expected that the unloading of the generator could take up to 10 hours.

Worsley Alumina plans to use the generator to power large drills and excavating machinery.