Radia, a company from the United States, has picked Brazils Akaer to design the cockpit for a new cargo plane called the WindRunner.This plane will be the largest cargo aircraft ever built.
Radia made the announcement in June 2025.The main goal is to solve a big problem for wind energy: moving huge wind turbine blades to places that trucks and trains cannot reach.The WindRunner will be 108 meters long and 80 meters wide.
Its cargo area will hold 7,700 cubic meters, which is twelve times more than a Boeing 747.The plane can carry up to 80 tons and fit objects up to 105 meters long.
These features mean it can move the biggest wind turbine blades straight to wind farm sites.Radia plans to use the WindRunner to load these large blades at airports and fly them directly to remote areas.
The plane can land on dirt runways as short as 1,800 meters.This makes it possible to deliver large cargo without building new roads or bridges, saving money and time.Akaer, based in So Jos dos Campos, Brazil, will design the cockpit and help with other important systems.Brazils Akaer to Help Build Worlds Biggest Cargo Plane for Wind EnergyBrazils Akaer to Help Build Worlds Biggest Cargo Plane for Wind EnergyThe company has a strong background in aerospace projects and has worked on major aircraft before.Other partners include Leonardo from Italy and Aernnova from Spain, who will build other parts of the plane.Radia will use proven technology and standard airplane parts to avoid risks and speed up the project.The company has already tested a small model in a wind tunnel and will move on to building full-size test planes.Radia will not sell the WindRunner to other companies.
Instead, it will use its own fleet to deliver wind blades and other large cargo.Experts believe the market for onshore wind energy could be worth $10 trillion by 2050.Larger wind turbines can make clean energy cheaper, but their size makes them hard to move.The WindRunner could help fix this problem by making it easier and faster to build wind farms in new places.Radia expects the WindRunner to start flying before 2030.This project puts Brazils Akaer at the center of a major international effort to modernize how big cargo is moved and to help the growth of renewable energy.