With all the recent media hype around the recent visit of the Antonov 225 to Shannon its easy to forget that its not that long ago that Antonovs were a very common sight at Shannon.
In 1990 Volga Dnepr Airlines was established in Ulyanovsk as the first private airfreight company in Russia, primarily to operate the fleet of Anotonov 124 Ruslans built by the Antonov Design Bureau. In 1997 a line maintenance base was established in Shannon.
All maintenance was carried out on the disused taxiway on the eastern side of the airfield near the Westair hangar.
The early versions of the engines fitted had a very short time between overhauls and this resulted in a lot of engine changes taking place.
It was common to have two or three aircraft on the ground at once with each missing at least one engine.
A line of three or four 124s is an impressive sight.
With 24 wheels per aircraft, wheel changes were another popular job!
With an outboard engine on one side removed, the 124 developed a serious lean to the other side.
In September 2006 the maintenance operation was transferred to Leipzig/Halle in Germany but 124s are still regular visitors, stopping for fuel on long transatlantic flights.
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