Gostomel Airport and Antonov Airlines: a status update
Over the past day, there have been concerning news reports about suspected attacks and capture of Gostomel Airport in Ukraine. This airport is located some 25 km northwest of central Kyiv, around 90 km south of the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and about 80 km from the border with Belarus. It is home to Antonov Airlines, one of the world’s few commercial operators of large Antonov cargo aircraft. Besides humanitarian and industrial users, this airline is of importance to West-European Armed Forces. This blog post will explain why this is the case, and will give an overview of the current status of the Antonov Airlines fleet.
Antonov Airlines and their relevance to West-European Armed Forces
Antonov is an Aircraft Design Bureau with its own aircraft production facilities. It also has an air transport division called “Antonov Airlines”, which is the main scope of this blog post. According to their website, Antonov Airlines has a fleet of seven Antonovs An-124 (NATO reporting name: “Condor”) each of which is capable of carrying 120 tonnes of cargo. Their fleet also contains one An-74 “Coaler”, an Antonov An-26 “Curl”, an Antonov An-22 “Cock” and the world’s sole completed and famous Antonov An-225 “Cossack”, capable of lifting up to 250 tonnes.
A key difference between Antonov cargo aircraft and most cargo aircraft in the Western World is the military development background, allowing the aircraft to be loaded and unloaded at remote destinations where little ground equipment is available. Most western cargo aircraft, such as the Boeing 747, require ground equipment for lifting cargo high enough to allow them to be moved into the aircraft, and many models (Boeing 767, Boeing 777, Airbus A300, Airbus A330) only have a relatively small side cargo door, introducing size constraints. In contrast, most Antonov models have an opening nose and/or rear, and come with a ramp and/or “kneeling” system that simply allows vehicles to drive in. Western rivals include the Airbus A400M, Boeing C-17A Globemaster III and Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy, all of which are solely operated by Air Forces.
Various competing airlines exist. The largest rival would be Russia’s Volga-Dnepr Airlines, operating a mixed fleet of Ilyushins Il-76 and Antonov An-124 cargo aircraft. Other rivals include Ruby Star and TransAviaExport, both from Belarus, and Silk Way Airlines of Azerbaijan, all operating a fleet of Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft. Their ability to transport heavy and oversize cargo to airstrips with little ground support gives these aircraft a unique selling point that no Western commercially-operated aircraft can offer.
For transporting military vehicles overseas, smaller Air Forces in the Western World therefore commonly rely on these commercial cargo airlines for transport. For example, the Belgian Military has been using Antonov Airlines to transport their helicopters to Mali for UN Peacekeeping Mission MINUSMA. Also the Dutch Military has been using Antonov Airlines Antonovs An-124 for transporting equipment.
Back in 2020, the Government of the Netherlands organized an airlift using Russia’s Volga-Dnepr Airlines Ilyushins Il-76 to transport a field hospital to overseas Dutch Caribbean Territories.
Around the evacuation of Kabul in 2021, the German Air Force used Antonov Airlines An-124 cargo aircraft for delivering military equipment and aid to Afghanistan. In July 2021, Antonov Airlines’ An-225 was used to deliver three military helicopters from their deployment in Afghanistan back to RAF Brize Norton.
Small Western-European NATO countries like the Netherlands and Belgium therefore commonly rely on airlines operating Antonov an Ilyushin cargo aircraft. Given the current geopolitical landscape, they might wish to avoid doing business with airlines from Belarus and Russia. Asides from (Bela)russian operators, a key remaining airline is Antonov Airlines. That raises a new question: where are Antonov Airlines’ 11 aircraft currently at?
Current status of the Antonov Airlines fleet
Combining fleet data from Antonov Airlines’ website and flight data from Flightradar24, a spatial overview of Antonov Airlines aircraft can be created.
Out of a fleet of eleven aircraft, five are currently located at Kyiv Gostomel Airport (Antonov Airport). The remaining six are currently located at various airports around the globe. The five aircraft on ground at Kyiv Gostomel Airport include two of their six Antonovs An-124, as well as both of their smaller An-74 and An-26 aircraft. Also their heavy An-22 and An-225 cargo aircraft are currently both located at Kyiv Gostomel Airport.
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