A visit by a brand-new Indonesian Air Force Airbus A400M Atlas

Posted On March 26 , 2026

This week, Whitehorse was part of an historic event for the Indonesian Air Force – we were one of the stops on the delivery flight of their second new Airbus A400M Atlas aircraft, tail number A-4002, serial number 150. Two A400Ms were ordered by Indonesia in 2021, but last year three more were ordered, for a total cost of $2 billion including support and training.

The first photo below shows the delivery ceremony for the first Indonesian aircraft, which took place on November 3, 2025, at the Halim Air Force Base in Jakarta, following the handing over of the aircraft at the Airbus facility in Seville, Spain.

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An Airbus press release says:
The A400Ms delivered to Indonesia are configured for cargo, troop transport, MEDEVAC, and humanitarian missions. They can carry a maximum payload of up to 37 tonnes of heavy or oversized loads, including helicopters, vehicles, and relief supplies. For an average mission carrying 30 tonnes, the A400M can fly 2,400 nautical miles, covering the entire archipelago from Jakarta. The newly developed roll-on / roll-off modular firefighting kit on-board both aircraft allows the A400M to be rapidly converted into a water bomber aircraft, capable of dropping up to 20,000 litres of retardant or water in a single pass. This new capability will significantly bolster Indonesia’s ability to respond to wildfires across its widespread and often hard-to-reach terrain. Designed for operational flexibility, the A400M can operate on short, unpaved runways and also serves as a multi-role aerial refuelling platform, acting as a force multiplier that extends the reach of the Indonesian Air Force.

Both the A400M Final Assembly building and the Airbus Military and Airspace International Training Center are located in Seville, Spain. From there, the short route to take A-4002 home to Indonesia would take them over one of the most hostile environments on earth at the moment.

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When A-4002 left Seville (SVQ/LEZL) on Saturday, March 21, 2026, it headed west, a safe route home. Six hours and 37 minutes later, it landed at St. John’s, Newfoundland (CYYT). A little over 4 hours was spent at St. John’s, then they departed for the Yukon. It took 8 hours and 18 minutes to reach Whitehorse (CYXY) – they landed at 4:14 pm on Sunday, March 22.

A friend alerted me to the plane’s arrival late that day, and hoping it wasn’t just a quick re-fuel, I was at the airport just before 08:00 the next morning, right about sunrise, though heavy clouds covered the sun. As I walked to the best viewing spot, an Air North 737 was towed to a spot blocking my view!

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A de-icing truck pulled up, and with no sign of life at the Indonesian aircraft, I decided to take a chance and go for breakfast at the Black Wolf Bistro. I had only been to the cafe once before, and wasn’t particularly impressed. I ordered the sausage-and-egg-on-ciabatta sandwich, which seemed rather pricey at $14.95. Was I ever surprised when it arrived. This is not an Egg McMuffin! It’s large, excellent, and good value – add a view like this and I will of course be back now.

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I was back overlooking the ramp by 09:15, and got most of the photos I wanted

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I don’t know what to make of that.

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Things were quiet on Tuesday (March 24th), but I checked to make sure the plane was still there, and shot the next photo from the highway.

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On Wednesday, it was sunny at home so I decided to drive in and upgrade my photos with some of the aircraft in the sun. I also wanted to get some photos of the plane head-on, and that would require a walk of about 500 meters from the closest place to park when the snow is deep, which is the Transportation Museum. When I arrived, though, it was cloudy 🙁
It looked like the clear skies might be coming towards the airport, so I sat and waited for about 20 minutes. By then the clouds were ragged enough that I thought I had a decent chance of at least a sunny break, so started walking over.

As I got near the spot I was going to shoot from, I got a very strong smell of aviation fuel. Something was happening, and I hastened my stride.

As I lifted my camera, the first engine fired! Incredible timing. There is no place to take shots like this without wires and a fence 🙁

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From the walking trail there is no very good place to photograph takeoffs, and there was no time to get to a really good spot, so I hurried along the trail to the best spot possible. The next photo was shot just as the plane started to taxi.

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I arrived at the final taxiway with seconds to spare.

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The next two photos show the start of the takeoff roll.

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While I had hoped to get photos of the actual lift-off, that simply wasn’t possible.

From Whitehorse, A-4002 took 9 hours and 7 minutes to reach Hakodate, Japan (HKD). They headed south from Hakodate yesterday afternoon. Although it’s not showing on either Flightradar24 or FlightAware, they have clearly landed at Juwata Airport, on the island of Tarakan, Indonesia, after a flight of about 6½ hours. I expect that they’ll continue on to Jakarta within the next few hours.

After 7 weeks without posting here, and having a difficult time getting started on this post, it feels good to be able to share these photos, which appear the be the first photos of the new aircraft seen online.