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Freighter Comparison Tool
Compare freighter aircraft side by side on the figures that actually decide a charter, published payload, cargo volume, clear door dimensions, floor loading, loading method and runway requirement. Then enter your load and see which types it physically fits.
Choose aircraft to compare
Select up to four types. Every figure below is reconciled against the same published specification data used on our aircraft guides.
| Specification | Antonov AN-124 | Boeing 747-8F | Boeing 777F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum payload | 120,000 kg | 133,000 kg | 100,000 kg |
| Cargo volume | 1,040 m³ | 850 m³ | 650 m³ |
| Primary opening | 6.4 m wide × 4.4 m high | 3.4 m wide × 3.1 m high | 3.73 m wide × 3.05 m high |
| Which opening | Full-section nose and tail openings | Main-deck side door (nose door also fitted) | Main-deck side door |
| Longest single piece | 36 m (indicative) | 30 m (indicative) | 12 m (indicative) |
| Main-deck floor loading | Not published | Not published | 1,464 kg/m² |
| Nose loading | Yes | Yes | No |
| Rear ramp loading | Yes | No | No |
| Indicative runway | 3,000 m | 3,200 m | 3,100 m |
| Best for | Genuinely outsize and extreme-tonnage pieces, and airfields with little ground equipment. | The most volume and tonnage available from a commercial freighter, with nose loading for long pieces. | Dense, high-value freight on long sectors, the best payload-to-cost of the large freighters. |
| Usually ruled out when | The load would fit a commercial freighter, availability is thinner and cost is materially higher. | The airport lacks a main-deck loader or the runway and stand cannot take a 747. | A single piece is longer than the side door can accept. There is no nose loading. |
Check your load against every freighter
Enter only what you know. Each figure you supply is tested against the published limits of all nine types, and you are told which constraint fails rather than just being given a shortlist.
Have the dimensions checked properly
A published envelope is not a loadability confirmation. Send the packing list and our desk reconciles piece dimensions, centre of gravity and floor loading against the aircraft actually available for your dates.
Result
Enter a weight, volume, dimension or runway length to test your load against all nine freighters.
How to read a freighter comparison
Most cargo charter decisions are lost on a door dimension, not on payload. An 82-tonne load looks comfortable against a 777F's 100-tonne structural maximum, but if one piece stands 3.2 metres tall it will not pass a 3.05 metre side-door opening, and the answer becomes a 747 with a nose door or an AN-124. That is why this tool shows the failing constraint rather than a score.
Three distinctions matter more than the headline tonnage. First, structural payload against volumetric payload: a light, bulky load fills the hold long before it reaches the weight limit, so volume is often the real constraint. Second, published maxima against sector performance, a freighter carrying its structural payload cannot also carry full fuel, so a long sector reduces what the same aircraft will lift. Third, loading method: nose and ramp loading change what is possible for long or self-propelled pieces far more than a few extra tonnes of capacity.
Runway and ground handling then decide whether the theoretically correct aircraft can actually operate. A type needing a main-deck loader is only an option where one exists at both ends, which is why ramp-loading types remain relevant on regional and project work despite lower payload. Where a converted airframe is offered rather than a production freighter, door dimensions can differ from the figures above. We confirm the specification of the specific tail before it goes into a quote.
Figures are published structural and airport-planning maxima from manufacturer and operator specification material, held in a single maintained dataset alongside our aircraft guides. They are indicative for planning and are not a loadability confirmation, a performance calculation or an availability quote. Aviall does not own or hold aircraft; capability is confirmed against the specific aircraft offered for your dates.