Ukrainian An-124 Ruslan Catches Fire Landing at Japan's Chubu Airport

A fire broke out on a Ukrainian An-124-100 Ruslan cargo plane operated by Antonov Airlines as it landed at Chubu Centrair International Airport in Japan, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK and the aviation account FL360aero on X.

What happened

The ignition occurred during landing. Because of the incident the runway was closed for 15 minutes before it resumed operation. Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is looking into the details; the cause has not been given.

Background

Antonov Company has said that, because international flights from Ukraine are impossible, five An-124-100 Ruslan aircraft are temporarily based at Leipzig airport in Germany. One An-124-100 flew to Germany after completing modernization; the aircraft, built in 1994, has more than 21,000 flight hours and over 5,500 flights. In 2025 it was reported that a subsidiary of Antonov was starting construction of a maintenance hangar at Leipzig airport.