Perth, Australia Accommodates World’s Largest Plane Antonov, Spectators Caused Heavy Traffic

The world's largest plane has touched down in Perth, Australia for the first time. The event was witnessed by the tens of thousand excited spectators who have flocked to Perth for the particular landing. The huge crowd patiently waited as the plane arrived late by nearly two hours, while Tonkin Highway, one of Perth's major arterial roads, was tangled with heavy traffic.

Antonov An-225 Mriya, with a whopping 600 tonnes of weight, landed on Sunday before 12:00pm local time. The plane transports large cargo around the world, and on Sunday's landing, it carried a 117-ton generator from Prague. Aviation WA president David Eyre said that it is the heaviest and the longest aircraft ever created, taking note of the plane's largest wingspan in operational service.

The world's largest plane is able to carry over 200 tons of cargo. According to Eyre, the plane's impressive size could carry every type of of thing, from locomotives to holding the heaviest cargo that is every carried by air.  It has carried four Russian military tanks amounting to 253 tons and a wind turbine blade at 42-meter length, BBC reported.

Aside from this, Antonov An-225 Mriya has been used as well for humanitarian missions, including some disaster relief operations, since it is able to carry so much load in just one go. According to a 47-year old aviation enthusiast Chris Whincop, it was not the first time that he witnessed a large plane land so close, though he recalled seeing a few rare planes for the past years, he said he has not been able to see one as large the Antonov An-225 Mriya.

The world's largest plane had refuelled stops in Asia and the Middle East, with its last leg of journey from Kuala Lumpur to Perth at 4,067 kilometers. The plane was built during the 1980s for the purpose of carrying the Russian Buran space shuttle on top of the fuselage. It weighs only 175 tons when empty, but full capacity could hold up to 600 tons, according to Telegraph.