NextEra Energy lands in Richmond the week of a major data center power deal

NextEra Energy flew from Cranland Airport in Massachusetts to Richmond International Airport on the evening of May 21, 2026, in its Embraer Praetor 600, tail number N47MW. The 1-hour-20-minute hop touched down at 11:06 p.m. local time, the same week the utility was in the headlines for a major expansion of its data center partnership.

That context comes from a Reuters report published December 8, 2025, detailing how NextEra Energy and Google Cloud plan to develop multiple new large-scale data center campuses across the U.S., backed by new power plants [marketscreener.com](https://www.marketscreener.com/news/nextera-energy-google-cloud-expand-deal-to-add-u-s-capacity-ce7d51ddde8cf523). NextEra CEO John Ketchum has positioned the company around a "bring-your-own-generation" model, and Virginia — home to the world's densest concentration of data centers in Loudoun County and down through the Richmond corridor — is ground zero for that push. Landing at KRIC puts NextEra executives within a short drive of potential campus sites and state energy regulators.

The flight is typical of NextEra Energy's travel pattern. Over the past week, the same aircraft cycled through New Jersey, Iowa, and Virginia, while two sibling Praetor 600s (N995RG and N5WN) were busy shuttling between Florida hubs and airfields in Arkansas, Georgia, and Ohio — a fleet rhythm that speaks to what a super-midsize jet offers a utility giant: fast, direct access to the scattered meetings and site visits that define energy infrastructure development.