Karachi:
According to the details, the world’s largest and heaviest cargo plane Antono AN-225 Maria of Ukrainian Airlines, which is active in transferring equipment of coalition forces from Afghanistan, arrived in Karachi on Wednesday last week.
The plane, which arrived in Karachi from Kabul on Wednesday afternoon, remained at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport for about 21 hours. According to aviation sources, Antonio AN-225 Maria arrived at the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday morning at 03:44 AM from Ukraine’s KKU airport as flight number ADB359F.
According to reports, the plane landed in Karachi on Wednesday afternoon as Flight ADB 3859 after loading heavy military equipment. According to aviation sources, the 32-year-old strategic aircraft made a technical stop of more than 20 hours at Jinnah International Airport. The flight ADB-3859 left Karachi at 08:37 AM on Thursday for Oxfordshire RAF Breeze Norton in the UK.
Regarding the reason for the arrival of the ship in Pakistan, the sources said that the airplane was used for the delivery of arms of the foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan, and for the same purpose the ship landed in Karachi. The plane was loaded with Italian military equipment, including weapons and lithium batteries, which landed at Karachi airport and was later shipped to Italy from Karachi port.
The Civil Aviation Authority received a compensation of Rs. 5 crore for this delivery of military equipment. It should be noted here that Antono AN 225 Maria arrived at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi for the first time on April 20, 2018. It is the largest and heaviest aircraft in the world with 6 turbophone engines. The Antono AN225 Maria made its maiden flight in December 1988, with a maximum take-off weight of 640 tons.
