Essentially, the market for the airfreighting of unique or super-heavy/oversized freight was created 20 years ago by carriers established in the post-Soviet environment exploiting heavy cargo aircraft developed by the Soviet design engineering bureaus. One of the pioneers and the leader in this new segment of the global airfreight industry was the Russian carrier Volga-Dnepr, which 20 years ago began commercial operation of the unique An-124 ‘Ruslan’ heavy cargo transport aircraft with a freight capacity of more than 120 tons. The non-standard cargo hold of this enormous plane allows the transportation of very large cargoes, and the specially-constructed floor in the cargo hold enables special features for the transportation of very heavy goods. In 1985, the legendary ‘Ruslan’ set 21 world records in one flight, carrying 171 tons of cargo to an altitude of 10.7 km. The company’s active marketing campaign in the international market, and a whole array of additional haulage systems developed for various different types of goods, gained the company a unique market product and its leading position.