The giant Ukrainian Antonov 225 cargo airplane landed at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam Thursday night before departing on a six-hour flight to Tanzania Friday morning. The plane took off loaded with 123 tons of oil drilling equipment worth SR 3.75 million for a private Tanzanian oil company. The strategic cargo aircraft was initially built in 1988 for the transportation of the Russian Space Shuttle “Buran.” With a maximum gross weight of 600 tons, the An-225 is the world's heaviest and largest aircraft, even bigger than the double-decker Airbus A380. – Okaz photo by Khaled Al
