Cargo planes fall into six working categories: military strategic airlifters, military tactical airlifters, purpose-built civil freighters, passenger-to-freighter conversions, small feeder freighters, and one-job outsize haulers. Almost every cargo aircraft flying in 2026 fits one of those six.
The biggest of them all is the Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy, which lifts 281,001 pounds (127,460 kg) of cargo. The most numerous is the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, in continuous production since 1954.
This guide sorts cargo planes by what they are built to do rather than by size alone, because a tactical airlifter and a widebody freighter solve completely different problems. Fleet numbers, payloads, and program status are current as of August 2026.
| Category | What it does | Typical max payload | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic airlifter | Military, intercontinental, outsize and heavy loads | 130,000 to 281,000 lb | C-5M Galaxy, C-17, An-124, Y-20B |
| Tactical airlifter | Military, short and unpaved strips, troops and vehicles | 44,000 to 83,000 lb | C-130J, A400M, C-390, Kawasaki C-2 |
| Light military transport | Military, small loads into austere fields | Up to 20,000 lb | Airbus C295, Alenia C-27J |
| Production freighter | Built as a freighter on a civil airliner line | 100,000 to 300,000 lb | 777F, 767-300F, 747-8F, A350F |
| Converted freighter (P2F) | Retired passenger jet rebuilt for cargo | 40,000 to 130,000 lb | 737-800BCF, A321P2F, 767-300BDSF |
| Feeder freighter | Regional and overnight parcel runs | 3,000 to 20,000 lb | Cessna 208 Caravan, ATR 72-600F |
| Outsize special-mission | Purpose-built around one oversized load | Volume-limited, not weight-limited | 747 Dreamlifter, BelugaXL, Super Guppy |
How this guide is organized
Cargo aircraft are grouped here by mission, not by size, because size alone puts a 747 freighter and a C-17 in the same bucket despite doing unrelated jobs. Within each group, aircraft are listed by maximum payload, using published manufacturer or air force figures for the heaviest variant. Where a type has several versions with very different capacities, the version is named. For a straight ranking of the biggest cargo aircraft ever flown, see the separate largest cargo planes list.
What Counts as a Cargo Plane
A cargo plane, also called a freighter, is an aircraft configured to carry freight rather than passengers. It has no cabin windows to speak of, a reinforced main-deck floor, and at least one large cargo door.
That definition matters because a large share of the world’s air freight never travels on a cargo plane at all. It rides in the belly holds of ordinary passenger flights, in the space under the cabin floor.
Roughly half of all air cargo flies under a passenger's feet
Boeing’s World Air Cargo Forecast expects dedicated freighters to carry about 55 percent of world air cargo by 2045, which leaves close to half of it moving as belly freight on passenger aircraft. When passenger flying stopped in 2020, that belly capacity vanished overnight and freight rates went vertical, which is exactly why so many airlines rushed to convert old passenger jets into freighters.
The dedicated freighter fleet is smaller than most people assume. Boeing counted 2,395 freighters in service worldwide in 2025 and expects about 4,010 by 2045.
Military transports are counted separately and are not part of that figure. They are built to a different rulebook, which is where this guide starts.
Military Cargo Planes
Military cargo planes, properly called airlifters or military transport aircraft, are designed around three things a civil freighter never has to do: land on a short unpaved strip, load a vehicle that drives itself aboard, and drop cargo or paratroopers in flight.
That is why they all share the same silhouette. High wing, engines well clear of the ground, tall landing gear on many wheels, and a rear ramp that drops to truck-bed height.
The category splits by range and payload into strategic airlifters, which cross oceans with outsize loads, and tactical airlifters, which move smaller loads into rough forward airfields. A handful of types, notably the A400M, deliberately straddle both.
| Aircraft | Origin | Max payload | Class | Status, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy | USA | 281,001 lb (127,460 kg) | Strategic | 52 in USAF service |
| Antonov An-124-100 Ruslan | Ukraine / USSR | 264,600 lb (120,000 kg) | Strategic | About 15 in commercial service |
| Boeing C-17 Globemaster III | USA | 170,900 lb (77,519 kg) | Strategic | In service, 279 built, out of production |
| Xian Y-20B | China | 145,500 lb (66,000 kg) | Strategic | In service and in production |
| Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A | Russia | 132,300 lb (60,000 kg) | Strategic | In low-rate production |
| Kawasaki C-2 | Japan | 82,900 lb (37,600 kg) | Tactical, long range | In service with the JASDF |
| Airbus A400M Atlas | Europe | 81,600 lb (37,000 kg) | Tactical and strategic | 139 of 178 delivered |
| Embraer C-390 Millennium | Brazil | 57,300 lb (26,000 kg) | Tactical | In service, 60 ordered by 12 nations |
| Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 | USA | 44,000 lb (20,000 kg) | Tactical | In production since 1996 |
| Airbus C295 | Europe | 20,400 lb (9,250 kg) | Light tactical | In production, 335 ordered |
Strategic Airlifters: The Heavy Haulers
A strategic airlifter moves heavy or outsize cargo between continents. There are only five in service anywhere in the world, and four countries build them.
Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy
The C-5M is the largest aircraft in the United States Air Force and the heaviest-lifting military transport in service anywhere. Its 281,001-pound (127,460 kg) payload is more than the entire empty weight of a Boeing 767.
It loads through the nose as well as the tail, so vehicles can drive straight through. Two M1 Abrams main battle tanks fit on the main deck, as does a fully assembled Chinook helicopter.
The Air Force operates 52 of them, all rebuilt to C-5M standard with new engines and avionics. With a maximum payload aboard it can fly 2,150 nautical miles without refueling, and unlimited distance with tanker support.
Boeing C-17 Globemaster III
The C-17 Globemaster III is the workhorse of Western strategic airlift, and the aircraft that made the strategic and tactical distinction blurry. It carries 170,900 pounds (77,519 kg) yet can land on a 3,500-foot dirt strip and reverse itself back out.
A single load can be an M1A2 Abrams tank, three Stryker armored vehicles, or three AH-64 Apache helicopters. It first flew on 15 September 1991 and replaced the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter.
Production ended in 2015 after 279 aircraft, which is the awkward fact behind every Western airlift shortfall discussion since. No replacement program exists, so the C-17 fleet has to last into the 2050s.
Antonov An-124 Ruslan
The An-124 is the only aircraft in regular commercial service that can swallow loads the C-17 cannot, carrying 264,600 pounds (120,000 kg) through nose and tail doors. Generators, locomotives, satellites, and other aircraft are its normal cargo.
It is both a military transport and a charter freighter, which is unusual. Antonov Airlines now bases its fleet at Leipzig in Germany, and about 15 aircraft remain in commercial service worldwide alongside roughly 13 in Russian military hands.
Xian Y-20 Kunpeng
China’s Y-20 is the newest strategic airlifter in service and the fastest growing fleet of the five. The re-engined Y-20B, fitted with domestic WS-20 turbofans, lifts 145,500 pounds (66,000 kg), enough for a Chinese main battle tank.
As of 2026 the PLA Air Force fields roughly 55 Y-20 transports plus 40 YY-20 tanker conversions. That is a larger strategic airlift fleet than any country outside the United States.
Ilyushin Il-76
The Il-76 is the most widely exported heavy airlifter ever built, flown by air forces and charter operators from Algeria to India. The original Il-76TD lifts about 110,000 pounds (50,000 kg).
The modernized Il-76MD-90A, built at Ulyanovsk, raises that to 132,300 pounds (60,000 kg) with new engines and a glass cockpit. Production is slow, with deliveries running at a handful of aircraft a year.
Tactical Airlifters: Short Runways and Rough Fields
A tactical airlifter trades payload for the ability to operate where there is no proper airport. Short field performance, unpaved runway clearance, and self-sufficiency on the ground matter more than raw tonnage.
Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules
The C-130 Hercules is the definitive tactical airlifter and the aircraft every other one in this section is measured against. The stretched C-130J-30 carries 44,000 pounds (20,000 kg) and lands on gravel, sand, and ice.
It is also the reason “cargo plane” and “propeller” go together in most people’s minds. Turboprops give the field performance and low-speed control that jets struggle to match.
The Hercules has been in production for over 70 years
Lockheed started building C-130s at Marietta, Georgia in 1954 and has never stopped, giving the Hercules the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history. More than 2,700 have been ordered or delivered across 63 nations. A C-130J rolling out today shares its basic fuselage cross-section with an aircraft designed before the Boeing 707 first flew.
Airbus A400M Atlas
The A400M was built to sit in the gap between the C-130 and the C-17, and it does. It lifts 81,600 pounds (37,000 kg), almost double a Hercules load, while still using soft and short strips.
Its eight-bladed scimitar propellers on four turboprops give it a cruise closer to a jet than a Hercules. It first flew in 2009 and serves with the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Malaysia.
Airbus had delivered 139 of 178 ordered aircraft by March 2026, and the backlog is thinning. Work is under way to certify a 40-tonne payload and add roles including firefighting and drone launch.
Embraer C-390 Millennium
The C-390 Millennium is the only jet-powered tactical airlifter in its class, and it is quietly taking the C-130’s export market. It carries 57,300 pounds (26,000 kg), cruises faster than any turboprop rival, and doubles as a tanker in KC-390 configuration.
Brazil, Portugal, Hungary, and the Czech Republic fly it today. Firm orders and selections reached 60 aircraft from 12 nations by mid-2026, including the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.
Kawasaki C-2
Japan’s Kawasaki C-2 is the odd one out: a twin-jet transport with a strategic payload of 82,900 pounds (37,600 kg) and a tactical mission. It replaced the elderly Kawasaki C-1 and entered Japan Air Self-Defense Force service in 2016.
It can carry around 120 troops, eight cargo pallets, or a UH-60J helicopter. Range is 4,100 nautical miles with a 20-tonne load, which matters for an island nation with far-flung territory.
Airbus C295
Originally the EADS CASA C-295 and now simply the Airbus C295, this twin turboprop is the light end of military airlift. It carries 20,400 pounds (9,250 kg) and operates from strips a C-130 would not attempt.
Airbus reports more than 335 orders from 39 countries, giving it the dominant share of its segment. India is the largest customer with 56 aircraft, most of them being assembled by Tata in Vadodara.
Variants stretch well past cargo work into maritime patrol, search and rescue, firefighting, and airborne early warning. That flexibility, not payload, is why it sells.
Air Force Cargo Planes: What the USAF Actually Flies
The United States Air Force airlift fleet is simpler than most people expect. Three types do essentially all of the cargo work.
The C-5M Super Galaxy handles outsize strategic loads, the C-17 Globemaster III does everything from intercontinental resupply to dirt-strip delivery, and the C-130J Super Hercules covers tactical and theater airlift. Air Mobility Command runs the strategic fleet from bases including Dover, Travis, and Charleston.
Everything else in the inventory is a specialist. The KC-46 and KC-135 are tankers that can carry pallets, and the C-40 and C-32 are passenger and VIP transports rather than freighters.
Earlier generations were far more varied. The Air Force retired the C-141 Starlifter in 2006, the C-133 Cargomaster in 1971, and the C-124 Globemaster II in 1974, each of which appears in the historic section below.
For a broader look at everything the US military flies, including fighters, bombers, and tankers, see our guide to the types of military planes.
Civil Cargo Planes: Production Freighters
A production freighter is an airliner built as a freighter from the first rivet. It gets a strengthened floor, a main-deck cargo door, no cabin windows, and a crew rest area instead of a cabin.
These are the aircraft doing the long-haul express and e-commerce work for FedEx, UPS, and the big Asian and European cargo carriers. There are fewer types than there used to be, and the list is changing fast.
| Freighter | Max structural payload | Production status, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Boeing 747-8F | 303,700 lb (137,700 kg) | Ended, final delivery January 2023 |
| Boeing 777F | 235,900 lb (107,000 kg) | In production, sales limited by 2027 emissions rule |
| Boeing 777-8F | 260,100 lb (118,000 kg) | Rolled out April 2026, service entry 2029 |
| Airbus A350F | 244,700 lb (111,000 kg) | First flight due 2026, service entry 2027 |
| Boeing 767-300F | 125,700 lb (57,000 kg) | Production ends 2027 |
| ATR 72-600F | 19,800 lb (9,000 kg) | In production |
The 747-8F was the definitive long-haul freighter, and its nose door made it the only civil aircraft that could load 60-foot pieces straight in. Boeing delivered the last one, and the last 747 of any kind, to Atlas Air on 31 January 2023.
Its successor is the 777F, which has no nose door but burns far less fuel. A 2027 ICAO emissions standard bars new deliveries of the current 777F after that date, which is why Boeing has been seeking an exemption.
The replacement, the 777-8F, rolled out of Everett in April 2026 with Qatar Airways as launch customer. Boeing first promised it for 2028, then pushed entry into service to 2029 as the passenger 777-9 slipped.
That delay hands Airbus an opening. The A350F is due to fly before the end of 2026 and enter service in the second half of 2027, potentially two years ahead of its Boeing rival.
The 767-300F is the quiet workhorse of the group, flying for FedEx and UPS. Its line closes in 2027 once those final orders are filled.
Converted Freighters (P2F)
Most of the world’s freighter fleet growth now comes from conversions rather than new aircraft. A passenger-to-freighter conversion takes a retired airliner, strips the cabin, cuts a large cargo door into the fuselage side, and reinforces the floor.
The common narrowbody conversions are the Boeing 737-800BCF and 737-800SF, and the Airbus A321P2F, all feeding the e-commerce boom. On the widebody side, the 767-300BDSF and A330P2F do regional and medium-haul work.
A converted freighter is cheaper to buy but carries less than a factory-built one, because the airframe was never designed for the loads. It is a compromise the cargo market is happy to make.
Feeder Freighters
At the small end are the feeders, single and twin turboprops that connect regional airports to the big sorting hubs overnight. They are the least glamorous cargo planes and among the most numerous.
The Cessna 208 Super Cargomaster is the archetype, a single-engine turboprop carrying about 3,000 pounds (1,360 kg) of parcels into strips with no cargo handling equipment at all. FedEx Feeder operates the largest fleet of them.
Above it sit the ATR 72-600F and various converted Dash 8s and Saab 340s. Their job is the last 300 miles, not the ocean crossing.
Outsize and Special-Mission Haulers
A small group of cargo planes exists to carry one specific thing that will not fit anywhere else. They are usually volume-limited rather than weight-limited, which is why they look the way they do.
Boeing 747 Dreamlifter
The 747 Dreamlifter is a 747-400 with a grotesquely swollen fuselage, built to fly 787 Dreamliner wings and fuselage sections between suppliers in Japan, Italy, and the United States. Four exist, and Boeing flies all of them.
Its cargo hold has the largest volume of any aircraft in the world. The whole tail section swings sideways to load.
Airbus BelugaST and BelugaXL
Airbus built its own version of the same idea. The original A300-600ST BelugaST and the newer, larger A330-based BelugaXL ferry wings and fuselage sections between Airbus plants across Europe.
The BelugaXL can carry two complete A350 wings at once, which the smaller ST could not. Airbus has also begun offering Beluga capacity as an outsize charter service to outside customers.
Aero Spacelines Super Guppy
The Super Guppy invented the bulbous-fuselage transport in 1965, carrying Saturn rocket stages for the Apollo program. It was a heavily rebuilt Boeing Stratocruiser with a hinged nose that swung open through 110 degrees.
NASA still operates one, the Super Guppy Turbine, from El Paso in Texas. It remains the agency’s tool for moving spacecraft components too large for anything else, more than 60 years after the design first flew.
Antonov An-225 Mriya
The An-225 Mriya was the heaviest aircraft ever built, a six-engined stretch of the An-124 designed to carry the Soviet Buran space shuttle on its back. Only one was ever completed.
It was destroyed on the ground at Hostomel airport near Kyiv in February 2022, during the opening days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Antonov has stated an intention to complete the unfinished second airframe, but no funded program exists.
Its loss left the An-124 as the world’s largest operational freighter, and there is no plan anywhere to build a replacement. For how it compares with every other giant, see our ranking of the biggest aircraft in the world.
Historic Cargo Planes Worth Knowing
Four retired types explain how the modern airlifter arrived at its shape. Each solved a problem that the next generation inherited.
Douglas C-133 Cargomaster
Built between 1956 and 1961, the C-133 Cargomaster was the first American turboprop strategic airlifter and the first with a rear ramp and a full-height cargo hold. It hauled Atlas and Titan intercontinental missiles, which nothing else could swallow whole.
Only 50 were built, and nine were lost in accidents, an attrition rate that earned it a grim reputation. Fatigue cracking and stall problems retired the whole fleet in 1971, and the C-5 Galaxy took over.
Lockheed R6V Constitution
Developed in the 1940s for Pan American and the US Navy, the R6V Constitution was a double-deck, propeller-driven transport of enormous ambition. Only two were built, both prototypes.
It was badly underpowered, and no engine then available could fix it. It remains the largest fixed-wing aircraft the US Navy has ever operated.
Canadair CL-44
The CL-44, built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, introduced an idea nobody had tried: a swing tail. The entire rear fuselage hinged sideways so long loads could slide straight in.
Around 39 were built, first for the Royal Canadian Air Force as the CC-106 Yukon and then as civil freighters. The swing tail idea survives today on the Dreamlifter.
Bristol Freighter
The Bristol Type 170 Freighter first flew in 1945 and was the first widely used clamshell-nose cargo aircraft. British operators used it as a cross-Channel car ferry, driving vehicles in through the nose with their owners riding in a small rear cabin.
It was about 69 feet long, slow, and famously ugly, and around 214 were built. Those short ferry hops were the closest civil aviation ever came to a flying roll-on roll-off ship.
What Makes a Cargo Plane Different From an Airliner
Six design features separate a freighter from the passenger jet it may be based on. Knowing them makes it easy to identify a cargo aircraft at a glance.
A reinforced main-deck floor. Passenger floors carry people and seats. Cargo floors carry concentrated point loads and are built with heavier beams and roller or ball-mat systems.
A large cargo door. Civil freighters get a side door cut into the forward or aft fuselage. Military airlifters use a rear ramp instead, and a few, including the C-5M and An-124, open at the nose as well.
A high wing. Nearly every military airlifter puts the wing on top so the fuselage floor sits low to the ground and engines stay clear of debris on unpaved strips.
Multi-wheel landing gear. Spreading weight across many small tires lets a heavy aircraft use a soft or thin runway. The C-17 has 14 wheels and the C-5M has 28.
Standardized loading. Military cargo moves on 463L master pallets, 88 by 108 inches. Civil cargo moves in unit load devices, the aluminum containers shaped to fit a specific fuselage cross-section.
No cabin fittings. Windows, overhead bins, galleys, and lavatories are stripped or never fitted. That is worth several tons of payload on a widebody.
Is the Boeing 777 a cargo plane?
Both answers are correct, which is why the question keeps coming up. The 777F is a purpose-built freighter with no cabin windows and a main-deck cargo door, and it is the best-selling large freighter in service. The passenger 777-300ER is not a cargo plane, though it carries substantial belly freight under the cabin floor on every flight. Confusingly, retired 777-300ERs are now being converted into 777-300ERSF freighters, so the same model number can mean a passenger jet, a factory freighter, or a conversion.
What Cargo Planes Actually Carry
The single largest category by volume is express parcels and e-commerce, which is why FedEx and UPS own two of the largest cargo fleets in the world. Time-critical goods pay for air freight; everything else goes by sea.
After that come perishables such as flowers, seafood, and fruit, then pharmaceuticals and vaccines in temperature-controlled containers, then high-value electronics and semiconductors.
Specialist cargo fills the rest: live animals including racehorses and breeding livestock, aircraft engines, oil and gas equipment, industrial machinery, currency, and human remains. Outsize charter operators move satellites, generators, and other complete aircraft.
Dangerous goods are their own regulated category, from lithium batteries to compressed gases, and each has rules about which aircraft may carry it and in what quantity. Cargo-only aircraft are permitted loads that no passenger flight may carry.
FAQ
Sources and references used for research and fact-checking.
- U.S. Air Force, C-5M Super Galaxy fact sheet
- U.S. Air Force, C-17 Globemaster III fact sheet
- Lockheed Martin, C-130 Hercules history
- Airbus, A400M military aircraft
- Boeing, Boeing Freighter Family
- Boeing, World Air Cargo Forecast
- Air Cargo News, Boeing delays 777-8F to 2028 and will end 767F production in 2027
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About the Author
Tim is the owner and lead editor of AeroCorner since 2019, overseeing aviation content covering aircraft, airlines, airports, and the broader aviation industry. Through years of researching, writing, editing, and publishing aviation-focused content, he has developed extensive practical knowledge of commercial aviation and air travel. Based in Asia and a frequent traveler himself, Tim also brings firsthand passenger experience to AeroCorner’s coverage. Outside of publishing, he has also explored aviation firsthand through hands-on flight training in New Zealand.