Interview with Mark Lundstrom Founder & CEO of Radia during le Bourget Airshow 2025 about the WindRunner aircraft

AeroMorning: Mark, can you tell us about the purpose and characteristics of the WindRunner aircraft?

Mark Lundstrom:
The WindRunner aircraft is a project currently being developed by Radia, an aerospace and clean-energy technology company based in Boulder, Colorado, and founded in 2016.

The primary purpose of the WindRunner is to transport wind turbine blades, specifically enabling onshore wind turbines to use blades as long as offshore ones—up to 105 meters in length. Today, onshore turbine blades are typically limited to around 70 meters, as roads and infrastructure can’t accommodate longer blades. Extending onshore blade lengths significantly boosts green energy production efficiency, lowers energy costs, and reduces the land area needed for wind farms.

The WindRunner will be the largest aircraft in the world under development. It features four engines, a length of 108 meters, a wingspan of 80 meters, and has 12 times the internal volume of a Boeing 747.

In terms of performance, WindRunner can land on semi-prepared airstrips as short as 1,800 meters, carrying a maximum payload of 72 metric tonnes.

Thanks to its unique capabilities, WindRunner is expected to have many applications beyond transporting wind turbine blades. These include moving military hardware (such as F-16s or Chinook helicopters), delivering disaster relief equipment, launching satellites, and transporting other oversized cargo anywhere in the world. Radia envisions a fleet of aircraft to meet global demand.

To mitigate development and cost risks, WindRunner is being designed using proven, certified, and mass-produced technologies. There will be no prototype phase—the project will move directly to a certification aircraft, to be certified under FAA Part 25.

The supply chain is already well-integrated, with most of the key suppliers selected. Most of the structural parts will be sourced from Europe:

• Wings and engine pylons – Aernnova (Spain)
• Fuselage – Leonardo (Italy)
• Empennage – Aciturri (Spain)
• Landing gear – Magnaghi (Italy)

Testing and certification will be carried out by Radia with other international partners, with program management handled by Radia in Boulder, Colorado.

Initially, the WindRunner will run on conventional jet fuel, but the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is planned in the second phase, once it becomes widely available and economically viable.

In summary, WindRunner is more than a transportation tool—it’s an enabler for a more sustainable world. By making large-scale onshore wind turbines feasible, it helps reduce the concrete and materials required, cuts energy costs, and increases clean energy output to power high-demand infrastructure like AI data centers or to produce green fuels like SAF in greater volumes and at lower prices.

With WindRunner, Radia is playing a key role in building a cleaner, greener future.

Nadia Didelot, Paris Air Show 2025 for AeroMorning