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Aviation glossary

Freighter

Also: cargo aircraft, freighter aircraft, cargo plane, pure freighter

The aircraft

Aircraft used solely to carry cargo, with no passenger cabin, a strengthened floor and a large cargo door on the main deck.

What it is

A freighter uses the whole fuselage for cargo: the main deck, where the cabin would otherwise be, and the lower hold. The floor is strengthened and fitted with rollers to move containers and pallets, there is a large side cargo door and, on some types, a nose door; on the factory-built freighter versions of the Boeing 747 the nose swings upwards so that long items can be loaded straight in.

Freighters come from two sources. Production freighters such as the Boeing 777F or 767-300F are built that way from the start; converted freighters are former passenger aircraft given a second career. Model designations usually mark them with an F. They are flown by cargo airlines, express integrators and the cargo divisions of many passenger airlines.

On Vuelopedia

Boeing 747 Boeing 777 FedEx Express

Related terms

Freighter conversionThe rebuilding of a used passenger aircraft as a freighter, with a large side cargo door, a strengthened floor and a cabin stripped to take pallets and containers. Cargo airlineAirline dedicated to carrying freight, operating freighter aircraft rather than passenger flights, either on its own account or on behalf of other companies. IntegratorExpress delivery company that controls the whole chain, from collection to delivery, with its own aircraft and sorting hubs, offering a door-to-door service. CombiAircraft that carries passengers and cargo together on the main deck, separated by a partition, and fitted with a large cargo door. ULDStandardised container or pallet in which baggage and freight are consolidated so they can be loaded onto an aircraft as a single unit.
Whole glossary

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Freighter. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/freighter

MLA

“Freighter.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/freighter. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Freighter.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/freighter.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Freighter. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/freighter (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_freighter,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Freighter}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/freighter},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/freighter}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/freighter |title=Freighter |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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