An ingnored factor and pretty big one, being left out of many articles on the C-17 and Strategic Airlifter Comparisons, is the runway takeoff length. With the purchase of a new lifter,,, How many Canadian Airports can the different lifters can land at?
Airports - with paved runways: total: 508
over 3,047 m: 18
2,438 to 3,047 m: 15
1,524 to 2,437 m: 151
914 to 1,523 m: 247
under 914 m: 77
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 823
1,524 to 2,437 m: 66
914 to 1,523 m: 351
under 914 m: 406
Nomen Runway Take off Length % of CDN Airports
C-17 1,064 m 51.089
AN-124-100 2,800 m 1.126
Il-76 1,700 m 35.762
Overseas and in Canada, you will not always have a large International airport to land your lifter at, It makes more sense to me that any lifter purchase will maximize use within Canada, plus many hotspots around the world, will have small unimproved runways,
I did my numbers, with the basic info I was able to google about the Aircrafts,