Aerospace Business Booms for Big Lifters Volga-Dnepr

Carrying the gigantic Baikal space launcher to Le Bourget is all in a day's work for Russia's Volga-Dnepr Airlines, general director Alexey Isaikin told Show News. And it's becoming more common every day.

Five years ago, says Isaikin, Volga-Dnepr's fleet-now numbering nine Antonov An-124s and a single Ilyushin Il-76-spent 10% of its time carrying outsize loads for the aerospace industry, most notably the Khrunichev space launcher company. Today, not only is that proportion 30%, but the U.S. accounts for 60% of those aviation contracts.

Volga's missile-carrying Antonov did not stay for the show, but Isaikin regards Le Bourget as an excellent opportunity to display the company's capabilities, even with the aircraft now busy in another part of the world. Two years ago, it was the Angara launcher that arrived courtesy of Volga.
Expansion? Yes, says Isaikin: an order will be placed later this year with the Aviastar plant at Ulyanovsk for a further An-124. And the An-225, currently occupying a large section of the Paris parking ramp? "We have discussed the 225 with Antonov and they are aware of our desire to participate in the program. We hope its Paris participation is a success," Isaikin says.

With Volga-Dnepr's cargo volume carried having grown 19% last year and aircraft hours up 11%, that is no idle aspiration.