newstodate.aero

Nov 26, 2020 (newstodate): Facing a sustained spike in the global demand for freighter capacity in times of coronavirus, 12 AN-124 Ruslan freighters have been removed from the market.
   Following a recent incident on November 13, 2020, with one AN-124 aircraft forced to perform a safety landing at Novosibirsk after an engine failure, the Russian Volga-Dnepr Group has decided to ground its entire AN-124 fleet pending investigation and inspections of all 60 engines plus spares in the fleet.
   -We have not received any official notifications or service directives yet, and there are no preliminary conclusions, so we have to suspend the entire AN-124 fleet with immediate effect, says Konstantin Vekshin, Volga-Dnepr CCO, according to media.
   In the fleet of Volga-Dnepr are also five IL-76TD freighters.
   Besides Volga-Dnepr Airlines, the freighter type is also in the fleet of the Ukrainian airline Antonov Airlines that operates seven AN-124 aircraft, two of which are on the SALIS contract with NATO for urgent military response flights.