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A great deal has changed since December 17 1903 – but the basics have stayed the same.
In the 121 years since Orville and Wilbur Wright soared briefly into the first powered flight – taking to the air above the sandy Outer Banks of North Carolina – planes have become much bigger, much more sophisticated, and certainly much faster. Where once, a 12-horsepower engine and twin propellers were enough to launch the Wright Flyer 120ft (37m) at walking pace, modern aircraft have crossed half the planet at mile-per-hour speeds of four figures. And where the Wright Flyer could carry a single passenger (who was also the pilot), jets of the 21st century can, in some cases, hold close to 1,000 people.
So much, so obvious. But if you were to create a fantasy league table, ranking the very big birds of commercial aviation in some sort of order, which aircraft would make the list, and how would they stack up? Can you analyse the mould-breakers of yesteryear – the great leaps forward crafted by the likes of De Havilland and McDonnell Douglas – alongside the contemporary feats of engineering crafted by the likes of Boeing and Airbus? And what of those splendours of the skies which went supersonic? Is it possible to compare airborne apples and oranges – or do you just end up with a messy fruit salad?
Perhaps. But we’re going to try it anyway. The following planes could feasibly be described as the 10 greatest passenger aircraft of all time. Disagree? Tell us why below.
The Constellation was the first mass-market passenger plane with a pressurised cabin
Credit: Getty
The nuts and bolts
The Second World War was still aflame when California-based Lockheed launched the plane that would become affectionately known as “Connie”. The Constellation would have military as well as civilian roles, but gained its place in aviation history by being the first mass-market passenger aircraft with a pressurised cabin, enabling it to fly higher than the worst of the weather in a way that had been impossible before. Its distinctive triple tail-fin also gave it an unmistakablity – and grace – of shape.
An advert shows a TWA Constellation flying over the Thames town of Marlow
Credit: Getty
Finest moment
While clearly much more of a military mission than an exercise in passenger transportation, the Constellation (the C-121 model) was part of the Anglo-American airforce which flew more than 250,000 flights over Germany during the “Berlin Airlift” of June 1948 to September 1949 – delivering supplies to West Berliners cut off from the rest of the world by a Soviet blockade and the first serious tensions of the Cold War. It would repeat the endeavour in the Biafran Airlift, dropping desperately needed humanitarian aid into the darkness of the Nigerian Civil War – in 1968 and 1969.
Pilots in the cockpit of a Constellation
Credit: Getty
Darkest hour
A hideous accident on June 30 1956, when TWA Flight 2 (a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation) and United Airlines Flight 718 (a Douglas DC-7) collided above the Grand Canyon. The combined fatalities (128; 70 on the Constellation, 58 on the DC-7) made this the first commercial aviation disaster with a three-figure death toll.
Where can I see one?
At the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace, a superb aerospace museum at Paris’s Le Bourget airport (museeairespace.fr). And, in rather imaginative fashion, at the TWA Hotel (twahotel.com) – the former TWA Flight Center at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, where a 1958 Constellation has been redesigned as a retro cocktail bar.
Actor David Lean and actress Ann Todd were among the passengers on board the first commercial flight of the Comet 1 in 1952
Credit: Getty
The nuts and bolts
It is easy to argue that modern passenger flight could not have existed without the Comet – in its roles as both pioneer and fall guy. As the Second World War ended, engineering visionary Sir Geoffrey de Havilland answered the call for a great British leap forward in aviation, crafting this workhorse – powered by four turbojet engines – with one eye on the coming era of transatlantic travel. He was not entirely successful, and it would take four versions of the plane before the project was fully realised. But by the time Comet 4 was aloft in April 1958, the jet era was in motion.
BOAC flight attendants
Credit: Alamy
Darkest hour
Together, 1953 and 1954 were disastrous for the Comet. A Canadian Pacific Airlines Comet 1A crashed on take-off in the Pakistani city of Karachi on March 3 1953; the first fatal jetliner crash. Worse was to follow. Three Comets were brought down by structural problems over the next 13 months (May 2 1953; January 10 1954; April 8 1954) – a trio of accidents which did significant damage to the plane’s reputation. However, the subsequent investigations – particularly into the thorny issue of cabin pressurisation – would pave the way for the more reliable aircraft that would come after.
Finest moment
October 4 1958, when the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) launched the first regular jet-powered service between London and New York (albeit with a refuelling stop at Gander in Newfoundland) using a newly minted Comet 4.
Passengers on their way to the inaugural Comet flight
Credit: Getty
Where can I see one?
You can find examples of the Comet 1, in varying states of preservation, at the RAF Museum Cosford (rafmuseum.org.uk) in Shropshire, and the De Havilland Aircraft Museum (dehavillandmuseum.co.uk) in Hertfordshire. The National Museum of Flight (nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-flight) near Edinburgh has a Comet 4.
A General Electric CF6-6D turbo fan jet engine constructed for use on a DC-10
Credit: Getty
The nuts and bolts
Life was not always easy for this workhorse of the American skies. Conceived as the successor to the similarly sturdy DC-8 – with which the Missouri-based aviation firm had entered the jetliner race at the end of the 1950s – the DC-10’s first years were blighted by safety issues. But its reliability improved hugely as the years passed; it was only taken out of passenger service a decade ago. It retains an iconic status in retirement, partly due to the unusual placement of the third of its three engines; not beneath the wings, but above the main fuselage, at the bottom of the tail-fin.
Freddie Laker used the DC-10 for his Skytrain services
Credit: Getty
Darkest hour
The loss of American Airlines Flight 191 on May 25 1979, when a DC-10’s left-wing engine detached during take-off from Chicago’s O’Hare International – leading to a crash less than a mile beyond the runway, with a total loss of life (258 passengers and 13 crew, plus two unfortunate bystanders on the ground). Photos of the last moments show the stricken plane flying on its side, the pilots struggling for control. Over 40 years later, the 273 fatalities still rank as the worst air disaster on American soil.
Finest moment
Its recovery from this tragedy. An understandable loss of confidence saw orders for the DC-10 slump in the early 1980s, but after modifications, it became one of America’s most trusted aircraft. It out-lived its parent company (McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997), and was still part of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines fleet 10 years ago (its last scheduled passenger flight was on February 20 2014). When Northwest Airlines put its final DC-10 to bed on January 8 2007, pilot Wade Blaufuss offered a tribute. “The DC-10 is a reliable airplane, fun to fly, roomy and quiet, kind of like flying an old Cadillac Fleetwood,” he explained. “We’re sad to see an old friend go.”
On board a DC-10
Credit: Getty
Where can I see one?
Next to a Concorde at Manchester Airport’s Runway Visitor Park (see manchesterairport.co.uk). And, brilliantly, reconstituted as the centrepiece of the Gate 88 nightclub – on the Indonesian party island of Bali (instagram.com/gate88langit).
The A380 superjumbo dwarfs a lesser jet
Credit: Getty
The nuts and bolts
Can you have too much of a good thing? This question applies to Airbus’s colossal creation; the titan that, since it came into service 17 years ago, has been both the world’s largest passenger plane, and the only full-length double-decker aircraft. The Toulouse-based aerospace giant began working on its behemoth as long ago as 1988, hoping to build a rival to the 747. The project was a success in one way; merely in taking off, the A380 eclipsed Boeing’s greatest achievement in size and modernity. But it is so big that airlines have struggled to make it economically viable, and the pandemic – when many carriers were forced to place their A380s in storage – has probably killed its future.
Finest moment
The initial buzz. The A380 arrived to considerable fanfare, and there was so much interest in its first flight – a Singapore Airlines jaunt to Sydney on October 25 2007 – that tickets were sold via a charity auction. One passenger paid a reported $100,380 (£79,300) for their seat. It is tempting to snipe that this was a poor investment.
On board an Emirates A380
Darkest hour
Its slow death. Although the A380 has a flawless safety record (leaving aside a pair of emergency landings, due to engine issues, which made headlines in 2010 and 2017), airlines have fallen out of love with the “Superjumbo”. Mainly due to its high operating costs; an issue only exacerbated by the pandemic. However, even before Covid, faith in the plane was failing – Virgin Atlantic and Qantas cancelled significant orders in 2018 and 2019 respectively. When Emirates followed suit in February 2019, pulling the plug on its purchase of 39 A380s, Airbus was forced to bow to the inevitable. Production of the aircraft ceased in December 2021, when the last remaining order rolled off the line.
A380s in storage
Credit: Reuters
Where can I see one?
For now, in the heavens above you, flying for the likes of British Airways, Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Qantas. Also at the Aeroscopia museum at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (aeroscopia.fr) – the second test model, as donated by Airbus.
The nuts and bolts
Where Boeing was out of the blocks as early as 1916, Europe’s biggest aviation manufacturer took a while to emerge, only coalescing in 1970. So the A300 was important; a new power-player’s first foray into an ultra-competitive industry. It was also the first twin-engine wide-bodied (ie double-aisled) airliner in the skies – ushering in the era of weary night flights where you not only find yourself in a middle seat, but a middle seat in the middle bank of seats, fighting for the armrest on both sides.
French aerospace engineer and founder of Airbus, Henri Ziegler, at the first flight of the A300
Credit: Getty
Finest moment
Making it big in the Far East. Launched in Air France livery on May 23 1974, the A300 had a stodgy start. Early sales were sluggish in the wider Europe, and in an America that needed to be convinced of the aircraft’s charms. It would be in Asia that the plane enjoyed its first significant surge in popularity. By the end of the 1970s, it was a key element of the fleets of Korean Air, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, China Airlines (of Taiwan) – and Thai Airways International (amongst others).
The champagne treatment on board an A300
Credit: Getty
Darkest hour
The appalling circumstances in which Iran Air Flight 655 was sent to the bottom of the Strait of Hormuz on July 3 1988 – shot down by a pair of surface-to-air missiles fired from the USS Vincennes during a time of (particularly) heightened military tensions in the Persian Gulf. The United States Navy pleaded a case of mistaken identity and communications failure; Iran claimed the warship had acted with, at best, extreme carelessness, at worst, with malign intention. Either way, all 290 souls on the A300 died.
Where can I see one?
Production of the A300 ceased in 2007. Just short of 200 (197) of the planes are still in professional service – although largely, these days, on cargo duties. Remarkably, at least seven retired A300s have been converted into restaurants, including at Danialand (danialand.com) – a theme park in Agadir, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco.
A Dreamliner landing at Zurich Airport
Credit: Getty
The nuts and bolts
As the 20th century neared its end and the mighty 747 began to approach elder statesman status, Boeing – among other aerospace companies – started to ponder life after the “Jumbo Jet”. One of the results ultimately to coalesce in the design meetings was the 787 Dreamliner; an aircraft which sounds as if it was named to fit a fairytale, yet has become one of the most pragmatic planes on the runway. Though smaller than the legend it has partially replaced, it has become a firm part of many fleets.
A Dreamliner being built at the Boeing manufacturing facility in North Charleston
Credit: AFP
Finest moment
Arriving as one of the heralds of a new generation of aircraft. While boasts of extra sustainability have become part of almost every brand launch in the 21st century, the Dreamliner can plausibly sell itself as a big step forward. Lighter than some of its predecessors (Boeing states that the 787 is 50 per cent carbon composite, and only 20 per cent aluminium), it is supposedly 20 per cent more fuel-efficient than the Boeing 767. It has also been hailed as a game-changer in customer experience. On-board facilities include a “gaseous filtration” system which provides a higher quality of air, the largest windows on any airliner (which passengers are able to lighten and dim, according to preference), and “Smoother Ride Technology”, which lessens the effects of turbulence.
LED lights and cleaner air improved the flying experience
Credit: Paul Grover
Darkest hour
As of the start of 2024, the Dreamliner has not been involved in a single fatality. But it suffered teething troubles with the lithium-ion batteries built into its systems. The initial weeks of 2013 were difficult – on January 7, an overheating battery sparked a fire on an empty Japan Airlines 787 parked at Boston Airport; on January 16, an All Nippon Airways Dreamliner made an emergency landing on Japan’s Shikoku Island when a similar problem caused an in-flight blaze. America’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded the 787 until the battery issue was resolved in the April.
Where can I see one?
All over the planet. But particularly above Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima et al – the two above-mentioned Japanese airlines are the two biggest users of the 787. Indeed, All Nippon Airways was the plane’s earliest adopter, flying the launch flight on October 26 2011. You can also find one of the three prototypes at the Pima Air & Space Museum (pimaair.org), amid the dust of Arizona in the southerly city of Tucson.
If you have flown Ryanair, you have flown on a 737
Credit: Getty
The nuts and bolts
There is an argument that the 737 is the most successful passenger aircraft in history. When Boeing put it into production in February 1965 (Lufthansa was the launch customer), the talk was of long-haul comfort on short-haul routes. Six decades on, little has changed. Though it has been through some 22 iterations, culminating in the 737 MAX family of aircraft, the 737 has been a relentless cog of the aviation world, flying short- and mid-range services (the 737 MAX has upped its maximum distance to 4,402 miles) without any great glamour or any particular fuss. If you have ever taken a flight of between three and five hours, there is a good chance that you were aboard a 737.
Finest moment
Its ongoing ubiquity. In 2013, the 737 accounted for more than 25 per cent of the global airline fleet; 5,580 of the planes flying for 342 airlines in 111 countries.
Darkest hour
Inevitably, a plane of such enduring use has seen its share of troubles. As of the end of last year, the 737 has been involved in 529 accidents and incidents. None caused more damage to its image than the two crashes, in quick succession, which led to the worldwide grounding of the 737 MAX between March 2019 and December 2020. The crisis began when Indonesian low-cost carrier Lion Air suffered the loss of Flight 610 from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang on October 29 2018 – the plane dropping into the Java Sea 13 minutes after take-off, killing all 189 people on board. There was a similar catastrophe with Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi on March 10 2019; the aircraft coming down six minutes after departure, killing all 157 passengers and crew. Both disasters were attributed to glitches with the 737 MAX’s Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which is meant to stabilise the aircraft, but inadvertently pushed both planes into nose-dives. Boeing fixed the issue promptly, but lost an estimated $60billion (£47billion) – via the cancellation of some 1,200 orders.
The 737 Max has been plagued with problems
Credit: Getty
Where can I see one?
Any time you take a flight with Ryanair; the 737 makes up the entirety of its fleet. The Museum of Flight (museumofflight.org) – on Boeing’s home turf in Seattle – has a 737-130, N515NA; the first of the aircraft ever built.
Introducing the best-selling plane of all time: the A320
Credit: Getty
The nuts and bolts
Airbus hit upon a splendid formula when it ushered the A320 out of the design workshop in the mid-1980s. Although it suffered an embarrassing false start – Air France Flight 296Q, an airshow demonstration flight for competition winners and journalists, crashed into trees at Mulhouse-Habsheim Airfield on June 26 1988, only two months after the A320’s formal launch – it has gone on to become one of the true reliables of modern mid-range aviation. See a plane in the sky? It could well be an A320.
Finest moment
Becoming the best-selling passenger airliner of all time in October 2019 (in terms of deliveries and future orders), stealing this particular crown from the Boeing 737. There are a number of members to what Airbus describes as the “A320 family” – including, somewhat confusingly, the A318 and A319 (both shorter than the A320), the A321 (a little bit longer), and the A320neo (which, introduced in 2016, offers significantly superior fuel economy to the original). As of January this year, this “family” adds up to 11,289 planes on duty with airlines (or an overall total of 18,460 if you include those on order or under construction).
Where Ryanair favours the 737, EasyJet has chosen the A320
Credit: Getty
Darkest hour
The A320 has a largely admirable safety record – and the biggest blot in its copybook was scarcely its own doing. The destruction of Metrojet Flight 9268 – an A321-231 carrying 224 predominantly Russian passengers and crew back home to St Petersburg from Sharm El Sheikh on October 31 2015 – was most likely down to a terrorist device in the hold that detonated shortly after take-off. There were no survivors.
Where can I see one?
At airports across the UK (EasyJet only uses members of the A320 family, while British Airways has 142) and the US (American Airlines is its largest operator, with 469).
A surviving Concorde is taken to a museum in New York
Credit: Getty
The nuts and bolts
While it certainly isn’t the only plane to achieve the feat, the phrase “supersonic flight” mainly conjures mental images of one aircraft. Few would deny that Concorde is one of history’s greatest engineering achievements. Perhaps, too, it is the greatest ever example of Anglo-French cooperation; a post-war aviation dream brought to reality by clever minds on both sides of the Channel. Certainly, it was a very graceful bird, easily capable of breaking the sound barrier in flying at speeds of up to 1,354mph (Mach 2.04). Many would suggest that its disappearance from the clouds was a step back – and as long as there is no direct replacement, Concorde will remain an icon in absentia.
Cabin crew preparing to board
Credit: Getty
Finest moment
Zooming into JFK on November 22 1977, as both British Airways and Air France belatedly began Concorde services to the Big Apple. Although the plane had been in the air since January 21 1976 (London to Bahrain; Paris to Rio de Janeiro), the US had moved to ban it from its airspace, nominally on noise grounds. That embargo was lifted in February 1977, but it would take until the end of the year before that fabled nose-cone was seen heading for Queens. The transatlantic dash to New York would become Concorde’s signature; in record-breaking style on February 7 1996, when a BA flight managed the return leg to Heathrow in just two hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds.
Concorde was capable of flying between London and New York in under three hours
Credit: Getty
Darkest hour
July 25 2000, when Air France Flight 4590 crashed shortly after take off from Paris Charles de Gaulle – brought down by metallic debris on the runway, a burst tyre and a consequent fuel-tank rupture. The plane would continue in service for another three years, but the Concorde era effectively finished that day, on the ground in Gonesse.
Where can I see one?
Eighteen of the 20 Concordes have been preserved, and 16 of them are on display. In locations as varied as the Imperial War Museum Duxford, in Cambridgeshire (iwm.org.uk), the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Somerset (nmrn.org.uk), at Aerospace Bristol (aerospacebristol.org) – and at the Udvar-Hazy Center, an offshoot of the Smithsonian Museum at Dulles Airport, outside Washington DC (airandspace.si.edu).
The nuts and bolts
The greatest passenger aircraft ever built? Quite possibly. Though far slower than Concorde (it has a top speed of 614mph, in the case of the 747-8i), no plane is quite as emblematic of the development of air travel from niche luxury enjoyed by the few to a basic commodity available to all. Lovingly nicknamed the “Jumbo Jet” from the moment it emerged from a Boeing hangar on September 30 1968, the 747 has been a fixture in the firmament for over half a century. And while its era is drawing to a close – the last one, a 747-8F, was delivered to American cargo carrier Atlas Air on January 31 2023 – its iconic four-engined shape will be visible above us for a while yet.
On board an early 747
Credit: Getty
Finest moment
Carrying the Space Shuttle on its broad back. Two 747s were extensively modified for this very high-profile purpose. Each aircraft would transport all five of the operational Space Shuttle orbiters at various points between 1977 and 2012.
The definition of excess baggage
Credit: Getty
Darkest hour
Two, in particular, linger starkly in the memory. The runway collision of two 747s at Los Rodeos Airport on Tenerife on March 22 1977 – a cataclysm of miscommunication in heavy fog that took the lives of 583 passengers and crew across the two aircraft (only 61 survived) – remains the deadliest ever air disaster. The death toll from the downing of a Pan Am 747 over Lockerbie on December 21 1988 (270 people, including 11 on the ground) was smaller, but the image of the Clipper Maid Of The Seas cockpit, lying disembodied upon the Scottish turf, is arguably air travel’s most haunting.
Only a few dozen airlines still fly the iconic jumbo jet
Credit: Getty
Where can I see one?
Flying for Lufthansa; Germany’s national carrier still has 27 747s in its fleet. At Cotswold Airport (cotswoldairport.com) in Gloucestershire, where G-CIVB, a 747-400 put out to pasture by British Airways when it retired its remaining jumbo jets in 2020, has been converted into event space. At the Delta Museum in Atlanta, Georgia (deltamuseum.org), where the first 747-400 off the Boeing line sleeps in the sun.
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