The 9 Best Passenger Airplanes of All Time, Ranked

Few things in modern life have reshaped civilization quite like the passenger airplane. In less than a century, flying went from a wealthy novelty to the default way humanity crosses oceans. Some aircraft were workhorses. Others were revolutions. A handful became icons.

Here are nine passenger planes that didn’t just carry people from A to B — they changed what A and B even meant.

9. BAC 1-11 — The Holiday Jet That Started It All

• First passenger flight: April 9, 1965
• Status: Retired (last aircraft 2019)
• Engines: 2 × Rolls-Royce Spey (rear-mounted)

The BAC 1-11 was Europe’s package holiday made airborne. Small, rear-engined, and brutally loud, it democratized leisure travel across the continent at a time when flying to Spain was still considered exotic. British European Airways, Aer Lingus, and American Airlines all operated it — a transatlantic client list that spoke to the jet’s genuine versatility.

Its downfall was its own engines. EU noise restrictions in 2003 effectively grounded it across Europe, and by 2019 the last airworthy example — operated by US defense contractor Northrop Grumman — was quietly retired. It lost the era, but not the memory of the millions who stepped off it onto hot Mediterranean tarmac for the first time.

“It was a little plane that you went on holiday to Spain on. Two engines at the back, extremely noisy. But getting off it as a kid, turning around and looking at it, I thought: how did it get in the air and stay there? That wonderment has never left me.”

8. Douglas DC-3 — The Plane That Made America Fly

• First passenger flight: June 25, 1936
• Status: Retired
• Total produced: Over 16,000

Before the DC-3, crossing America by air meant a patchwork of slow hops interrupted by overnight train legs. American Airlines ended that compromise on June 25, 1936, launching the twin-propeller Douglas DC-3 on a New York–Chicago route. Within years, it dominated US domestic aviation — over 16,000 were eventually built, making it one of the most mass-produced aircraft in history.

The DC-3 was the first airplane that made airlines profitable without a government mail subsidy. That fact alone earns it a permanent place in history. Its legacy was so enduring that when Richard Branson launched his short-lived Vintage Airways in the 1990s — with flight attendants in 1940s uniforms and Glenn Miller on the speakers — he used DC-3s.

“Funny shape, but a real workhorse. It was an absolute aircraft for its time and ushered in tremendous advancement for US aviation.”

7. Airbus A320 — The World’s Favourite Narrowbody

• First passenger flight: June 26, 1988
• Status: In service — most delivered aircraft in history as of October 2025
• Fun fact: An A320 takes off or lands somewhere in the world every two seconds

In October 2025, the Airbus A320 family became the most-delivered commercial aircraft in aviation history. Every two seconds, somewhere on the planet, an A320 is either leaving the ground or touching it. It is the backbone of easyJet, British Airways short-haul, and American Airlines’ domestic network — a narrowbody so ubiquitous it has become invisible.

That invisibility is itself a kind of achievement. The A320 introduced fly-by-wire controls and side-stick technology to the mass market, establishing standards the entire industry now follows. Its debut was inauspicious — a demonstration flight at the 1988 Habsheim Air Show ended in a crash that killed three people — but Airbus rebuilt confidence, and the aircraft went on to become arguably the most commercially successful jetliner ever made.

“One of my favourites because it was such an achievement to build it and get it going. It does have a very strange noise when you park at the gate — but it’s an absolutely spectacular aircraft.”

6. Boeing 707 — The Jet That Shrunk the Atlantic

• First passenger flight: October 26, 1958
• Status: Retired
• Route: Idlewild (New York) to Paris Le Bourget

Boeing’s first commercial jet — and the aircraft that established the company’s transatlantic supremacy for the next sixty years. Pan Am launched the 707’s inaugural service on October 26, 1958, and the scramble was immediate: TWA, American, Continental — if you weren’t flying a 707 across the Atlantic, you weren’t a serious player. President Eisenhower attended its baptism ceremony nine days earlier.

By modern standards the 707 was loud, narrow, and unglamorous. But in the travel films of the era, it represented the pinnacle of sophistication: roast beef carved tableside, soup from a terrine, white-gloved service at 35,000 feet. It didn’t just carry passengers — it carried aspiration.

“The 707 was the aircraft that allowed Boeing to gain supremacy. Pan Am had it, TWA had it — you weren’t a player across the Atlantic unless you had the 707.”

5. Boeing 767 — The Quiet Giant of the Transatlantic

• First passenger flight: September 8, 1982
• Status: Being phased out — United and Delta plan to fly theirs until 2028
• Configuration: 2-3-2 (most passengers get a window or aisle seat)

No one falls in love with the 767. Nobody counts down the days until they fly one. And yet the 767 is, by almost any practical measure, one of the most important widebody jets ever built. Boeing’s first widebody twin-jet debuted for United in 1982 and quietly became the standard for transatlantic travel.

Its 2-3-2 seating arrangement meant the majority of passengers got either a window or an aisle — a small thing that made long-haul flying noticeably more bearable. It opened routes that the economics of four-engine jets couldn’t justify, and it did it for decades without fanfare. Some aircraft make headlines. The 767 made money.

“It’s an aircraft that does wonders for the economics of the airline, but passengers are never going to rapturously fall in love with it. On one recent journey, the plane was 34 years old. Thirty-four!”

4. Boeing 777 — The Triple Seven That Rewrote Long-Haul

• First passenger flight: June 7, 1995
• Status: In active service worldwide
• Record: Guinness World Record for longest commercial flight — Hong Kong to London eastbound, 2005

The world’s largest twin-engine passenger jet didn’t get there by accident. Boeing did something unusual during the 777’s development: it invited airlines to participate in the design process. The result was an aircraft that from day one reflected what carriers actually needed — range, capacity, and flexibility.

Its first commercial flight took it from Heathrow to Dulles, and N777UA, that very aircraft, still flies in United’s fleet today. Emirates built its entire intercontinental network around the 777. It holds the Guinness record for the longest commercial flight — a 2005 demonstration run from Hong Kong to London the long way around, three-quarters of the globe nonstop with 34 passengers. The upcoming 777X, promised for 2027 delivery, aims to extend that legacy into the next decade.

“The CEO of Continental told me: ‘The 777 is a game-changer.’ And it was, and still is — because it gave you range, passenger numbers, and variance. It truly deserves its place among the best.”

3. Airbus A380 — The Superjumbo Passengers Love and Airlines Don’t

• First passenger flight: October 25, 2007 (Singapore Airlines)
• Status: No longer in production; 10 airlines still operate it
• Capacity: Up to 853 passengers (all-economy); typically ~555 in mixed-class layout

The A380 is aviation’s great paradox: the aircraft passengers love most and airlines needed least. Airbus spent billions building the world’s largest passenger jet — the only fully double-deck commercial aircraft ever to fly — and delivered it just as the industry was pivoting toward frequent, point-to-point routes on smaller planes.

In February 2019, Airbus pulled the plug. The last A380 was delivered to Emirates on December 16, 2021. And yet the aircraft lives on. Ten airlines still fly it, and passengers who board one consistently rate the experience above any other widebody: quieter, roomier, smoother in turbulence. Emirates offers first-class shower suites and an onboard bar. The A380 was, perhaps, simply 20 years ahead of its time.

“It’s the most extraordinary piece of engineering. You and I could be sitting next to the engines at full takeoff power and have a normal conversation — it is that beautifully built. And yes, I have taken the Emirates shower. It’s quite an experience.”

2. Boeing 747 — The Queen of the Skies

• First passenger flight: January 22, 1970 (Pan Am, New York–London)
• Status: Being phased out
• Total produced: 1,574 aircraft (last delivery December 2022)
• Nickname: The Queen of the Skies

When Pan Am’s 747 lifted off for London on January 22, 1970, it carried 362 passengers — more than any commercial aircraft had ever flown at once. The distinctive hump above the cockpit, allegedly designed so the nose could hinge open for cargo conversion if the passenger version flopped, became one of the most recognizable silhouettes in transportation history.

The 747 democratized long-haul flying. Before it, transatlantic tickets were expensive and scarce. The 747’s sheer size drove seat costs down and brought intercontinental travel within reach of the middle class. Early models featured a spiral staircase to an upper-deck lounge — climbing it became a shorthand for having arrived. All 1,574 aircraft were built before the line finally closed in December 2022.

“From the very beginning, Boeing wanted to design something truly spectacular. If you got to ascend those stairs and sit upstairs — it was wonderful. It really set the aircraft apart.”

1. Concorde — The Only Aircraft That Ever Made Time Irrelevant

• First passenger flight: January 21, 1976
• Status: Retired October 24, 2003
• Top speed: Mach 2.04 (1,354 mph / 2,179 km/h)
• London to New York: approximately 3.5 hours
• Seats: 100

On January 21, 1976, two aircraft took off simultaneously — one from London to Bahrain, one from Paris to Rio de Janeiro — and the world crossed the sound barrier for the first time in a suit and tie. Concorde wasn’t just faster than other aircraft. Westbound flights arrived before they departed, in local time.

The joint British–French project was a masterpiece of engineering and a financial catastrophe in equal measure. Development costs were never recovered. The Paris crash of July 2000, which killed 113 people, grounded the fleet for over a year. When Air France quit in May 2003 and British Airways followed on October 24, it marked the only moment in commercial aviation history when technology went backwards — there was no supersonic replacement waiting in the wings.

The cabin was almost perversely modest for the price: 100 office-chair seats, a carpet engineered with elasticity to cope with the fuselage stretching under Mach-speed heat. If you pushed a finger into the gap near the door seal, you could feel the warmth radiating from the skin of the aircraft. The Mach meter clicked past 1.0, past 1.5, past 2.0. The world shrank. Boom Supersonic is trying to bring it back. We’re still waiting.

“It didn’t matter how you got on board — whether you robbed, stole, finagled or bought your ticket. I had a smile from here to here the first time I flew on Concorde. On the last flight, the star of the story was the plane. Yes, I shed a tear.”

Which aircraft on this list would you most have wanted to fly on? Let us know in the comments.