Aviation
ANTONOV, BOLLORÉ TRANSPORT TURKISH SATELLITE TO FLORIDA
January 6, 2022

Antonov Airlines and Bollore Logistics have teamed-up to transport Turkey's new telecommunication satellite Turksat 5B for launch in Florida.

 

Antonov said in a statement that the satellite was moved on board one of its AN-124-100 aircraft from Toulouse, France, to Florida, US, later launched by the US aerospace company SpaceX.

 

Self Photos / Files - Antonov

 

The cargo weighed a total of 60 tonnes including a special container measuring 14.69 m in length, 5.45 m in width, and 4.36 m in height, designed by Airbus Defence and Space specifically for moving these types of satellites on AN-124-100 aircraft.

 

"An external crane in conjunction with the onboard crane and winch of the AN-124-100 was used to load and unload the container, as well as special loading equipment designed and manufactured by Antonov’s in-house engineers," said Sergii Bilozerov, commercial executive, Antonov Airlines.

 

Self Photos / Files - Antonov 2

 

SpaceX launched the Turksat 5B satellite on December 18 from Cape Canaveral on behalf of Turkey and the satellite will serve Turkey and neighbouring countries for 35 years.