The tragedy that is happening in Ukraine cannot be overstated for those living through it. We feel it close to home as one of our team is from that beautiful country and to watch what is happening to the population is heart-breaking.
One of the casualties of the conflict has been the destruction of the Antonov AN-225 Mrira heavy lift cargo plane. Many of us who are involved in major claims have used this aircraft to get vital mining or manufacturing equipment from one continent to another. By doing so, massive reductions have been achieved in business interruption losses.
The aircraft is estimated to have cost between $200 and $250 million to build and was the only one of its kind in operation. A second one was partially built but was never completed. The hope now is that one, believed to be in hiding, can be saved and one day the construction completed.
There are smaller Antonov planes, such as the AN-24 but the AN-225 was the largest of them all. It had a range of over 15,000 kilometres and had about 200 Guinness Book of World records to its name including the heaviest air lift, the longest piece of equipment to be carried etc.
The aircraft was in for maintenance on its engines and as such could not be flown out to safety when the invasion took place.
Like the Concorde, it was a remarkable aircraft to see and like the rest of this conflict I was saddened to hear of its destruction.
Without this aircraft, if the equipment is too large for the remaining smaller planes, we will be relying on traditional shipping. This will mean extra weeks of lost production which in turn means larger insurance losses for business interruption.
Image Credit: CC BY- SA | Mark Steven – http://www.airliners.net/photo/Antonov-Design-Bureau/Antonov-An-225-Mriya/2178900/L/
