The largest airplane ever to land at the Thunder Bay International Airport came in ahead of schedule Wednesday morning.

The Antonov 124 arrived in Thunder Bay around 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday, after a 10 hour flight. It was carrying a load of materials from Vienna, destined for the Bombardier plant in the city.

Airport president and CEO Ed Schmidtke said it took a week to get everything in order so the airport could accommodate the plane.

"It's a lot of coordination," he said. "You have to coordinate where it's going to fit from an obstacle height perspective, where it's going to fit from a pavement load perspective."

When fully loaded, the plane weighs about 410,000 kilograms. It flew into the city Wednesday with a 19-member crew.

The successful landing of the Antonov is good publicity for the airport, Schmidtke said.

"We can play a role with heavy cargo," he said. "So when people are looking to move stuff from 'a' to 'b' they know about trains, they know about our port and they now know that we can accommodate large cargo as well at the airport."

"This is good news for the airport, Schmidtke said. "This is exciting stuff."