Ukraine dreams of rebuilding the world’s largest airplane. Can Richard Branson help?

Four months ago, at the beginning of the war, countless Ukrainians were demoralized when they learned that the world’s largest cargo airplane, built in Ukraine, was destroyed in a fierce battle. The plane, called Mriya, which in Ukrainian language means The Dream, was Ukraine’s pride. Only one was ever built. It was a global airplane celebrity. Now it lay in mangled wreckage. But this week the efforts to resurrect Mriya got a huge lift. Richard Branson, the British billionaire and aerospace mogul, toured the airfield in Hostomel, a city near Kyiv where the plane had been based. During the visit, on Wednesday, Ukrainian aerospace experts broached the idea of rebuilding it. “We are excited,” said Nataliya Sad, a spokeswoman for Ukroboronprom, the state-run defense manufacturer that owns Mriya. “Mriya is our symbol of victory, of light over darkness, and it should be rebuilt.” Branson, who has consistently voiced support for Ukraine during the war, did not say whether he would contribute to the effort to get the gargantuan craft aloft again. But he did write in his blog, “I hope that Mriya’s legacy will endure.” A Virgin Group spokesperson said that Branson was assessing what would be needed to rebuild the plane, and that the effort would turn to finding ways the international community could support the project and help rebuild its airfield and Ukraine’s aviation industry. One Ukrainian lawmaker, David Arakhamia, said that Branson had “expressed his willingness to help in any way he can,” according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.<br/>