Learn / Aircraft

Types of airliner

Next time you’re at the gate, look out of the window. Four kinds of airliner cover almost every flight you’ll take, and once you know them, you’ll start spotting them everywhere.

One aisle or two?

This is the quickest tell. A narrow-body has a single aisle with up to six seats across, like the A320 or 737. A wide-body has two aisles and up to ten seats across, like the 787 or A350, and is what you usually fly long-haul.

The four types you’ll meet

• TurbopropPropellers, short hops, small airports19–82 seats · up to 2,870 kme.g. ATR 72-600
• Regional jetJets for thinner routes50–107 seats · up to 5,750 kme.g. E175
• Single-aisleThe workhorses: most flights in the world110–243 seats · up to 8,700 kme.g. A320neo
• Wide-bodyTwin aisles for long haul and busy routes214–525 seats · up to 16,700 kme.g. 787-9

Seat and range figures are the spread across the aircraft on this site in each group, from typical published values. Outlines drawn to one scale.

How to read the name

Airliner names look like codes, but they follow a pattern: the family first, then the size, then sometimes a hint about engines or range.

787family-9size

A321size in the A320 familyneonew engines

737familyMAXnew engines8size

777family-300sizeERextended range

Why do propellers still exist?

On a short hop, a turboprop is only a few minutes slower than a jet and burns less fuel. It can also use shorter runways. That’s why you’ll still see ATR 72s and Dash 8s on island and regional routes.