It’s an Ilyushin One-Two as Volga-Dnepr Operates Simultaneous Flights for Urgent Mobile Drilling Rigs

Volga-Dnepr Airlines has completed two simultaneous IL-76TD-90VD cargo flights to ensure the fastest possible delivery of urgent mobile drilling equipment for an oil and gas customer in Kuwait.

The flights from Liege in Belgium carried 16-ton mobile installations that drove into the cargo holds of the iconic ramp freighters under their own power for the deliveries to Al Kuwait. “As the cargo was required in Kuwait urgently, we operated two flights to ensure all of the drilling equipment arrived at the same time as opposed to a single aircraft taking longer to conduct both deliveries in sequence,” stated Rinat Akhmetov, Sales Executive at Volga-Dnepr UK.

Christopher Klein of the German logistics company Karpeles Flight Services GmbН, a subsidiary of Schenker AG, which requested the flights, said: “Seeing the two IL-76 freighters side-by-side in Liege was very eye-catching for everyone at the airport but the main objective was to meet our customers’ delivery time requirements and this solution with Volga-Dnepr ensured we did that. Everything was great!”

Transporting equipment and materials for major customers in the oil and gas industry is one of Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ biggest areas of activity. Since the airline was founded in 1990, it has safely delivered over 90,000 tonnes of oil and gas cargoes all over the world using its unique fleet of 10 An-124-100 and five IL-76TD-90-VD freighters.