Employees stand near an airframe for the second Antonov-225 Mriya plane at Antonov aircraft plant in Kiev, Ukraine, September 7, 2016. Ukraine hopes to attract $500 million of investment from China to complete an updated version of the world's biggest aircraft, the Antonov-225 Mriya, the president of manufacturer Antonov said on Wednesday. The Antonov-225 is a cargo plane designed as part of the former Soviet Union's space programme. The only one completed is still in use and can carry up to 250 tonnes up to 4,000 km (2,485 miles). Work to manufacture a second plane was started in 1988 and never completed, but Antonov has now found a potential investor in the Aerospace Industry Corporation of China (AICC). Antonov President Oleksandr Kotsiuba said it could take around five years to complete the aircraft once a contract between the two sides is signed. The two companies signed a cooperation agreement in August under which Antonov planes could be manufactured jointly in China. “The second copy of Mriya will be completed here, in Kiev, and could cost up to $500 million depending on the equipment installed”, Kotsiuba told Reuters. He said future cooperation with the Chinese company would depend on the successful completion of the plane. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)





Oleksandr Kotsiuba, president of Antonov state aircraft company, speaks during a news conference in Kiev, Ukraine, September 7, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)





Journalists stand inside an airframe for the second Antonov-225 Mriya plane at Antonov aircraft plant in Kiev, Ukraine, September 7, 2016. Picture taken with a fish-eye lens. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)





Parts of an airframe for the second Antonov-225 Mriya plane (L and R) are seen at Antonov aircraft plant in Kiev, Ukraine, September 7, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)





Officials stand near an airframe for the second Antonov-225 Mriya plane at Antonov aircraft plant in Kiev, Ukraine, September 7, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)





An airframe for the second Antonov-225 Mriya plane (L) is seen at Antonov aircraft plant in Kiev, Ukraine, September 7, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)





An airframe of the second Antonov-225 Mriya plane is seen at Antonov aircraft plant in Kiev, Ukraine, September 7, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)





An airframe for the second Antonov-225 Mriya plane is seen at Antonov aircraft plant in Kiev, Ukraine, September 7, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)





An airframe for the second Antonov-225 Mriya plane (top) is seen at Antonov aircraft plant in Kiev, Ukraine, September 7, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)





An airframe for the second Antonov-225 Mriya plane is seen at Antonov aircraft plant in Kiev, Ukraine, September 7, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)





Plane spotters watch Antonov An-225 Mriya, a cargo plane which is the world's biggest aircraft, driving along the Vaclav Havel Airport for its first commercial flight from Prague to Perth, in Prague, Czech Republic, May 12, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





A tank is loaded onto an Antonov An-225 Mriya transport aircraft at the Leos Janacek Airport in Mosnov, near Ostrava January 26, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)





Plane spotters watch Antonov An-225 Mriya, a cargo plane which is the world's biggest aircraft, driving along the Vaclav Havel Airport for its first commercial flight from Prague to Perth, in Prague, Czech Republic, May 12, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)





An Antonov An-225 Mriya, a cargo plane which is the world's biggest aircraft, is seen on an airfield before its first commercial flight to the Australian city of Perth in the settlement of Hostomel outside Kiev, Ukraine, May 10, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)