Antonov An-124 Ruslan

Updated: October 2026 – A high-wing aircraft rolls across the apron, so massive that the vehicles next to it look like toys. The wings droop slightly, four thick engines drone, and under the fuselage two dozen wheels turn: that is the Antonov An-124 Ruslan. For decades it has been bringing cargo to places where nothing else helps – turbines, helicopters, entire industrial plants. On this page you will learn how to recognize it reliably, how to tell it from the An-225, C-5 Galaxy and Il-76, and why Leipzig/Halle is the best place to see it today.

What is the Antonov An-124?

The An-124 is a four-jet strategic transport developed by the Antonov design bureau in Kyiv. It was originally intended for the Soviet military: its job was to move heavy and bulky goods over long distances and to land on poorly developed runways while doing so. After the end of the Soviet Union, a large part of the fleet moved into civil service – and there the Ruslan has occupied a niche in which it still has hardly any competition today.

The first flight took place in December 1982. With a maximum takeoff weight of around 400 tonnes, it then replaced the American Lockheed C-5 Galaxy as the heaviest aircraft in the world. The An-124 first showed itself to a Western audience in 1985 at the Paris Air Show. It was built at two plants: in Kyiv and in Ulyanovsk, Russia. In total only a good 50 units were built; sources give 56 or 57.

The type showed early on how capable it is with records: in 1985 an An-124 lifted around 171 tonnes of payload to 2,000 meters, and in 1987 one aircraft flew a good 20,000 kilometers on a closed circuit without landing or refueling in between.

Built for cargo that fits nowhere else

What makes the An-124 special is not only its size but the way it is loaded. At the destination it needs hardly any special equipment – the aircraft brings the most important things itself.

• Nose door: The nose section in front of the cockpit swings up like a visor. Behind it lies the full cargo hold cross-section, and cargo is pushed or driven straight in.
• Tail ramp: The fuselage also opens at the rear with a ramp. If needed, the cargo hold is therefore accessible from both ends.
• Kneeling: The nose gear can be lowered so that the aircraft tilts forward. The loading edge is then lower and the ramp becomes flatter.
• Onboard cranes and winches: Cranes run under the cargo hold ceiling, and heavy items can be pulled in with winches. That makes the Ruslan independent of harbor cranes or heavy-duty forklifts.
• Robust landing gear: 24 wheels spread the weight, so runways with lower load-bearing capacity also come into question.

The cargo hold measures around 36 meters in length, 6.4 meters in width and 4.4 meters in height. The civil An-124-100 is designed for up to 120 tonnes of payload, the strengthened An-124-100M-150 version for up to 150 tonnes. Above the cargo hold is an upper deck with the cockpit, rest areas and seats for accompanying personnel. With maximum payload the An-124 can fly around 3,700 kilometers.

It is powered by four Progress D-18T engines, turbofans of Ukrainian design. They sit on pylons under the wings and are easy to recognize from the front by their large intakes.

The features that are enough to identify it

A large high-wing aircraft with four engines – that sounds clear-cut, but it isn’t quite. Besides the An-124, the C-5 Galaxy, Il-76, A400M and C-130 are further high-wing aircraft that spotters like to mix up. These three observations make identification reliable.

In the end the registration confirms the type. Antonov Airlines aircraft carry Ukrainian registrations with the prefix UR-, Russian An-124s the prefix RA-. What lies behind such codes is explained in the article on aircraft country codes.

An-124 or An-225, C-5 or Il-76?

The most common mix-ups happen with the other large military and heavy-lift transports. The finder helps you narrow it down.

You can find more on the relatives on the pages about the An-225, the Ilyushin Il-76, the Airbus A400M and the Lockheed C-130 Hercules.

With civil large freighters such as the Boeing 747-8 or the 747-400, the mix-up is rather theoretical: the jumbo freighter also has a hinged-up nose, but is a low-wing aircraft with the typical hump behind the cockpit. On the Airbus BelugaXL the cockpit sits below the cargo hold – exactly the opposite of the Ruslan.

Feature	An-124	An-225	Il-76	C-5 Galaxy
Engines	4 jets	6 jets	4 jets	4 jets
Tail	conventional, one fin	twin vertical stabilizers	T-tail	T-tail
Nose door	yes	yes	no	yes
Tail ramp	yes	no	yes	yes
Status today	in service	destroyed in 2022	in service	in service (US Air Force)

Who flies the An-124 today?

The civil fleet was long split between two large operators: Antonov Airlines, the cargo division of the Ukrainian manufacturer, and the Russian Volga-Dnepr. In addition there are aircraft of the Russian Air Force and a few other operators.

The Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022 fundamentally changed this picture. The airspace of the EU, Britain and Canada was closed to Russian aircraft. Russian aircraft that were in the West at the start of the war could no longer leave. A Volga-Dnepr An-124, for example, was stranded in Toronto and seized by the Canadian authorities in June 2023. For spotters in the West this means: a flying An-124 today is practically always an Antonov Airlines aircraft.

Antonov Airlines could no longer operate out of Ukraine – its home airport Hostomel was fought over in the first days of the war, and the An-225 parked there was destroyed. The An-124 fleet moved to Leipzig/Halle. Antonov has been present there since 2006: through the multinational airlift program SALIS, in which NATO and EU states participate, An-124s are on standby there for strategic transport. The interim solution of 2022 is now becoming a permanent base: a dedicated maintenance hangar for the An-124 is being built at the airport, with completion targeted for 2027. How many aircraft Antonov has stationed there exactly varies by report; it is around a handful.

Spotting in Leipzig/Halle

Leipzig/Halle Airport is a first-rate cargo airport anyway: besides the DHL hub with European Air Transport Leipzig and AeroLogic, the business of oversized heavy-lift cargo has settled here. That makes Leipzig the best place in central Europe for the An-124.

A good starting point is the observation deck at Leipzig/Halle Airport. From there you get an overview of what is going on. Because Leipzig is a night cargo airport, a large part of the traffic takes place in the dark; the Antonov charters, by contrast, follow no fixed rhythm and can take off at any time of day. What the rules for night flights in Germany look like is covered in the article on the night flight ban at German airports.

Heavy-lift charters are short-notice: an order comes in, the aircraft takes off. There is no public schedule. It is best to keep the type code A124 in view in a tracking service; how that works is explained in the guide on flight tracking with ADS-B. Decisive for your vantage point remains the runway direction in use – more on that in the article Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport.

Guest appearances at other airports

Outside Leipzig, every An-124 is a small event. It lands wherever a customer has oversized cargo: power plant parts, helicopters, equipment for relief operations or military material. That can be a large hub airport such as Frankfurt or Munich, but equally a smaller airport near a plant. Because such visits are rare, word usually spreads quickly in the spotter scene.

For short-notice visits, pay attention to where the aircraft is parked: heavy-lift aircraft often stand at remote cargo positions. Whether your vantage point is allowed is clarified by the article Is plane spotting allowed?. You will find more tips on tracking down unusual visitors under Spotting rare aircraft.

Photo tips specifically for the An-124

The Ruslan is a difficult yet rewarding subject: huge, slow on approach and with details you don’t see on passenger jets.

You can work out in advance when the light suits your spot; how, is explained in the guide Planning the sun position for your photo spot. Because many movements in Leipzig take place at night, the article Photographing aircraft at night is also worth a look. Which equipment you really need is covered in the plane spotting gear checklist.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

If you want to get into the world of freighters in general, the article Identifying cargo aircraft gives an overview of the most important types. How the An-124 compares with the A380, 747 and others is shown in the overview The largest aircraft in the world. And why more separation applies behind such a heavyweight is explained in the article on wake turbulence and separation.

Conclusion

The An-124 Ruslan is one of the aircraft for which spotters gladly put up with a few hours of waiting. Drooping wings, four engines, the low-set horizontal stabilizer and 24 wheels make it unmistakable once you know what to look for. Since 2022, Leipzig/Halle has been its most important location in Europe – and so, of all places, the Ruslan is easier to see in Germany today than almost anywhere else.