Documented Families
13
Commercial aircraft types
In Active Production
9
Current assembly lines
Longest Range Airframe
8,700 NM
Airbus A350 XWB (16,100 km)
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Master Sortable Aircraft Family Comparison Matrix

Click any column header to sort commercial airliner families by first flight year, passenger capacity, maximum range, or production status.

Aircraft Family Manufacturer Category Production Status First Flight Typical Capacity Max Range (NM) Max Range (km) Cruise Speed
Boeing 737 Family Boeing Narrow-body In Production 1967 138 - 204 typical 3,550 NM 6,570 km Mach 0.79 (840 km/h)
Airbus A320 Family Airbus Narrow-body In Production 1987 150 - 244 typical 4,000 NM 7,400 km Mach 0.78 (828 km/h)
Boeing 777 Family Boeing Wide-body In Production 1994 314 - 396 typical 7,370 NM 13,650 km Mach 0.84 (892 km/h)
Airbus A350 XWB Airbus Wide-body In Production 2013 300 - 410 typical 8,700 NM 16,100 km Mach 0.85 (903 km/h)
Boeing 787 Dreamliner Boeing Wide-body In Production 2009 242 - 330 typical 7,565 NM 14,010 km Mach 0.85 (903 km/h)
Airbus A330 Family Airbus Wide-body In Production 1992 250 - 300 typical 7,200 NM 13,334 km Mach 0.82 (871 km/h)
Boeing 747 Queen of the Skies Boeing Wide-body Out of Production 1969 416 - 467 typical 7,730 NM 14,320 km Mach 0.855 (912 km/h)
Airbus A380 Superjumbo Airbus Wide-body Out of Production 2005 525 - 615 typical 8,000 NM 14,800 km Mach 0.85 (903 km/h)
Airbus A220 Airbus (originally Bombardier) Narrow-body In Production 2013 100 - 150 typical 3,450 NM 6,390 km Mach 0.78 (829 km/h)
Boeing 757 & 767 Boeing Narrow-body Out of Production 1981 200 - 280 typical 6,025 NM 11,150 km Mach 0.80 (850 km/h)
Embraer E-Jets & E2 Family Embraer Regional Jet In Production 2002 76 - 132 typical 2,850 NM 5,280 km Mach 0.78 (829 km/h)
ATR 42 & 72 ATR (Airbus & Leonardo) Regional Turboprop In Production 1984 48 - 78 typical 825 NM 1,528 km Mach 0.44 (510 km/h)
Aérospatiale / BAC Concorde Aérospatiale & British Aircraft Corporation Supersonic Out of Production 1969 92 - 100 all-first-class 3,900 NM 7,222 km Mach 2.04 (2,180 km/h)

Commercial Airliner Design Generations

  • First-generation commercial jets (Boeing 707, DC-8) featured four loud turbojet engines requiring 3-person cockpit crews including a flight engineer.
  • High-bypass turbofans introduced on the Boeing 747 in 1969 reduced passenger noise and cut specific fuel consumption by over 30 percent.
  • Digital fly-by-wire flight control, pioneered in 1988 on the Airbus A320, eliminated physical cable linkages in favor of flight computers with envelope protection.
  • Modern composite airframes like the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 use carbon-fiber reinforced plastics to resist fatigue and corrosion, enabling higher cabin humidity and lower equivalent cabin altitude (6,000 feet vs. 8,000 feet).