Warsaw’s Chopin Airport welcomes the Antonov 225

On 14 April, Warsaw Chopin Airport welcomed the only Antonov An-225 “Mriya” as operation “Cargo dla Polski” (Cargo for Poland) begins.

A premiere for 15 years on Polish soil. The world’s only Antonov An-225, registered UR-82060, has landed this morning at Warsaw Chopin Airport, after a low pass above the airport.

The last time the aircraft came to Poland was in 2005 in Katowice-Pyrzowice, carrying five helicopters from Chisinau, Moldova to Algeria and 2 years before, Pozna?–?awica Airport also welcomed the aircraft carrying 128 tonnes of cargo.

The aircraft, chartered by KGHM and Lotos, came from Tianjin, China, via Almaty, Kazakhstan. It transported 76 tonnes of medical suits, 11 tonnes of face shields and 9 tonnes of masks.

“Here in the Ministry and together with the Material Reserves Agency, the distribution between specific hospitals is made. Until recently, we distributed this equipment among voivodships, and there was direct transport from voivodships to hospitals. Now these transports go directly to the hospitals, here they are distributed according to the medical institution, according to the needs”, said Wojciech Andrusiewicz, spokesman for the Polish Ministry of Health.

Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish Prime Minister said: “We are dealing with a situation of large shortages of equipment around the world. Several countries have applied for such transport. The fact that the plane could fly to Poland, the largest transport plane in the world, was also preceded by long hours of negotiations, and earlier long days of talks.”

This special flight is part of “Cargo dla Polski”, an operation to bring medical resources to Poland, a mission which follows “LOT do domu”, bringing home Polish people stranded abroad, which ended recently.

Watch again the landing :