The Antonov An-124 Ruslan, one of the largest production transport aircraft in the world, swept low over Waiheke Island and Flat Bush on Monday afternoon before settling on to the main runway at Auckland Airport shortly after 3.40pm.
The arrival drew plane spotters to the perimeter roads around the airfield, where the four-engined Soviet-designed freighter is hard to mistake for anything else. With a wingspan of 73.3 metres, a fuselage 69 metres long and a tail nearly seven storeys high, the An-124 dwarfs the Boeing 777s and Airbus A350s that usually dominate the apron.
Auckland Airport confirmed the visit but offered very little else, telling reporters the aircraft was part of a planned private, specialist freight movement and that large charter cargo aircraft operate into Auckland from time to time. A spokesperson said the details of this particular load were being managed privately by the customer.
The New Zealand Defence Force has separately confirmed it is not the customer on this occasion, ruling out the kind of military airlift that has often brought the Ruslan to these islands in the past.
The aircraft had flown in from Hawaii after positioning earlier from the United States mainland, a long ferry over the Pacific that Antonov Airlines crews undertake routinely for charter work. Flight tracking sites picked up the Ruslan as it crossed the approaches to New Zealand and watched it descend gently toward the Manukau Heads, with the slow, methodical loop over the inner Hauraki Gulf giving Aucklanders unobstructed views from the eastern bays and the Howick coastline.
The Antonov An-124, designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the early 1980s, was conceived as a strategic airlifter for the Soviet military. Production of the type ran from 1982 to 2014 and only 55 airframes were ever built. The civilian fleet is now down to around 26, flown mostly by Antonov Airlines out of Ukraine and a small number of charter operators around the world.
Since the destruction of its larger sibling, the one-off An-225 Mriya, at Hostomel airfield outside Kyiv during the Russian invasion in February 2022, the An-124 has held the title of largest production cargo aircraft in active service. It can lift up to 150 tonnes of payload, has a maximum take-off weight beyond 400 tonnes and rides on a 24-wheel undercarriage that allows it to operate from less-developed runways than its size would suggest. Cruising speed is around 865 kilometres an hour and the Ruslan can carry that maximum load roughly 3,700 kilometres before needing to refuel.
For New Zealand, visits from the Ruslan have a particular pattern. The aircraft is the workhorse of choice whenever something arrives in the country that simply cannot be broken down to fit inside a Boeing 747 or 777 freighter. Past Antonov runs into Auckland have brought spare engines for Air New Zealand’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet, racing yachts and support equipment for the America’s Cup, and NH90 medium-utility helicopters for the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
A more recent visit in April 2025 saw the Ruslan touch down at RNZAF Base Ohakea carrying components for a full-motion P-8A Poseidon flight simulator. That cargo was destined for No. 5 Squadron’s training facility, Te Whare Toroa, and was arranged by the Ministry of Defence in partnership with Boeing. Sarah Minson, then deputy secretary of capability delivery at the Ministry of Defence, said at the time the simulator would be a critical tool for the New Zealand Defence Force, improving training capabilities, reducing risk to crew and aircraft, and providing significant savings in Poseidon operating costs.
This week’s load is unlikely to fit any of those neat categories. With the Defence Force ruled out, the identity of the customer and the nature of the cargo have not been disclosed by either Auckland Airport or Antonov Airlines, and the freight is being moved entirely on a commercial basis.
Auckland Airport has hosted the An-124 a handful of times across the past decade. Its visits are popular enough that the airport’s communications team usually fields more questions about plane spotting than the freight itself, with observation spots near the end of the main runway becoming impromptu car parks each time the giant comes to town.
The aircraft is expected to remain on the ground for at least one full crew rest cycle before being reloaded and sent back the way it came. Operators of the type typically allow several hours for unloading specialist cargo, given that nothing on the inside is small or easy to handle. The drive-on ramps at the front of the aircraft, which lower the entire nose like a hinged jaw upwards, are designed for vehicles to roll directly into the cavernous hold.
For now, the Ruslan sits on the cargo apron at Auckland International while crews and ground handlers go about their work. Whatever it brought with it from Hawaii is heading to a New Zealand customer that is, for the moment at least, content to let the country admire the aircraft without naming what is inside.
Did you spot the Antonov on its approach over Auckland on Monday afternoon, or have a guess at what it might have been carrying? Tell us in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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