Payload

Payload is the weight of passengers, baggage and cargo an aircraft carries, excluding fuel and crew. 'Full-fuel payload' — what you can carry with the tanks full — is often the more useful figure, since it shows how many people you can take on a long leg without a fuel stop.

Why it matters: payload is what the aircraft exists to move, and payload with full fuel is one of the most revealing single figures on a specification sheet. An aircraft with impressive range but little full-fuel payload achieves the brochure figure only when nearly empty.

Study the payload-range trade rather than either number alone: every aircraft gives up payload for range at some point, and the shape of that trade decides whether your typical mission — your passengers, your bags, your sector — actually fits. Two aircraft with identical maximum figures can differ substantially where it matters, in the middle of the envelope.