Freighters & outsize cargo

The category, explained

Cargo aircraft are shaped by their doors. A nose that hinges upward, a ramp at the back, a fuselage that is essentially a tube of empty volume — every design decision follows from the need to get enormous objects in and out quickly.

This is where aviation's true giants live. Outsize freighters like the An-124 and the An-225 exist to carry generators, turbines, satellites and locomotives — payloads for which there is simply no alternative. The Beluga and Dreamlifter are stranger still: aircraft built to carry the pieces of other aircraft.

Every freighters & outsize cargo here

Silhouettes are sized by real wingspan — bigger aircraft draw bigger.

Ranked by length