Departed last night 2100z, took 5 mins to spool up on the runway before rolling very slowly and limping into the air.
Impressive looking machine, though glad it went out so late thus avoiding delays to other outbounds.

C130 is a slow aircraft and doubtful if a RR Trent in full serviceable config would fit in the Herc. Smaller Russian types can be more expensive and wouldnt get US/UK traffic rights for this flight. You mean an IL76. Might not even be loadable in this either depending on engine dims.

NewForest - how did you know about the price? Must be aroundtrip at that.
Who arranges a charter like this, is it done airline to airline or with a broker?

Interesting one for the LHR movements log, not too many 124s come to here.

Herc might well be more expensive given the extra flying time it would have to fly. You could maybe consider using the newly engined IL-76, but I'm not sure the dims of a trent would fit (if the a/c was available). It also depends on where the An-124 is at the time it was booked - if it was already in N. America looking for a load back to Europe then you have reduced some of the cost of the charter already.

Whatever happened to the concept of putting spare engines on a special pod/pylon attached to the wing inboard of the main engines. The 747 certainly can fly around with this "fifth engine", and I believe Boeing developed one for the 777 as well. If that's what it costs for a freighter to move spares around this should be a cheaper solution.

http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/open.file/0635769/M/

In a previous life I used to look after an An124 ops and be in the commercial dept.
The Trent (in its traveling frame) or the equivilent GE and P&W engines will only fit the 124 or a front loading 747. We used to move GE engines from the east coast USA to Boeing field and we could only get 4 on at a time. Volume rather than weight being the issue.
A USA Eur round trip charter would normaly be around USD 250k per charter but this could rise if its a rush job and the acft had to be pullled off an already booked charter.... so the 500k quoted is not unusual.
cheers

Hi FL460, where are you now? Still in the industry? A side loader B747F would be loadable, doubt a fully serviceable RR Trent would go through the nose door. Trent dims around 300cms high if memory serves me right.

Bristolre
I stand corrected on the Trent dims...its been a few years since playing with An's
See your PM's for my current whereabouts

cheers

Thanks for your info. The answer to your question is Post 19!