An Antonov AN-70 military cargo aircraft has visited Leipzig/Halle Airport for the first time.
The Ukrainian transport aircraft made a stopover at the central German airport, arriving from Istres in France, before it continued its journey to its home base at Kiev Gostomel Airport.
This was the third time in all that the short take-off and landing aircraft has called at an airport in Germany.
The aircraft had flown to Bangui, Central African Republic, where it loaded a 23.6 tonne consignment before continuing to Ndjamena, the Republic of Chad, and then on to France where the shipment was unloaded.
The four-engine plane with counter-rotating propellers has a wing span of more than 44 metres. It is almost 41 metres long and more than 16 metres high.
Antonov test pilot Viktor Goncharov, said: "From Ndjamena airport we took off in temperatures of +33 Celsius degrees and with a take-off weight close to the maximum. The aircraft confirmed designed data of the take-off parameters including length of the runway distance. The AN-70 also showed good climb rate."
Antonov said in a statement: "In this expedition the AN-70 was in the air for more than 20 hours, and flew over 13,600 km. Throughout the route, the aircraft demonstrated its high flying, take off and landing characteristics as well as low fuel consumption. Onboard handling equipment was tested under actual operating conditions. All the tasks were performed successfully."
