A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft and in the largest cases as a jumbo jet, is an

airliner An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest ...

with a

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical

diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabin, passengers are seated seven to ten abreast, allowing a total capacity of 200 to 850 passengers. Seven-abreast aircraft typically seat 160 to 260 passengers, eight-abreast 250 to 380, nine- and ten-abreast 350 to 480. The largest wide-body aircraft are over wide, and can accommodate up to eleven passengers abreast in high-density configurations. By comparison, a typical

narrow-body aircraft A narrow-body aircraft or single-aisle aircraft is an airliner arranged along a single aisle, permitting up to 6-abreast seating in a cabin less than in width. In contrast, a wide-body aircraft is a larger airliner usually configured with m ...

has a diameter of , with a single aisle, and seats between two and six people abreast. Wide-body aircraft were originally designed for a combination of efficiency and passenger comfort and to increase the amount of cargo space. However, airlines quickly gave in to economic factors, and reduced the extra passenger space in order to insert more seats and increase revenue and profits. Wide-body aircraft are also used by commercial

cargo airline Cargo airlines (or air freight carriers, and derivatives of these names) are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of air cargo, cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines. In 2018, airli ...

s, along with other specialized uses. By the end of 2017, nearly 8,800 wide-body airplanes had been delivered since 1969, with production peaking at 412 in 2015.

History

1960s

A Boeing 747, the first wide-body passenger aircraft, operated by Pan Am, its launch customer in 1970 file:Cirrus SR20 Private, AMS Amsterdam (Schiphol), Netherlands PP1151411024 (cropped).jpg, Three widebodies, one in each main engine configuration: KLM's

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

twinjet A twinjet or twin-engine jet is a jet aircraft powered by two jet engine, engines. A twinjet is able to fly well enough to land with a single working engine, making it safer than a single-engine aircraft in the event of failure of an engine. F ...

McDonnell Douglas MD-11 The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner manufactured by American manufacturer McDonnell Douglas (MDC) and later by Boeing. Following McDonnell Douglas DC-10, DC-10 development studies, the MD-11 ...

trijet A trijet is a jet aircraft powered by three jet engines. In general, passenger airline trijets are considered to be second-generation jet airliners, due to their innovative engine locations, in addition to the advancement of turbofan technology. ...

and

Boeing 747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The ''Advanced Series 300'' was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, target ...

quadjet A four-engined jet, sometimes called a quadjet, is a jet aircraft powered by four engines. The presence of four engines offers increased power and redundancy, allowing such aircraft to be used as airliners, freighters, and military aircraft. Man ...

Following the success of the

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

and

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is an early long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body jetliner designed and produced by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. Work began in 1952 towards the United States Air Force's (USA ...

in the late 1950s and early 1960s, airlines began seeking larger aircraft to meet the rising global demand for air travel. Engineers were faced with many challenges as airlines demanded more passenger seats per aircraft, longer ranges and lower operating costs. Early jet aircraft such as the 707 and DC-8 seated passengers along either side of a single aisle, with no more than six seats per row. Larger aircraft would have to be longer, higher (

double-deck aircraft A double-deck aircraft has two decks for passengers; the second deck may be only a partial deck, and may be above or below the main deck. Most commercial aircraft have one passenger deck and one cargo deck for luggage and ULD containers, but a ...

), or wider in order to accommodate a greater number of passenger seats. Engineers realized having two decks created difficulties in meeting emergency evacuation regulations with the technology available at that time. During the 1960s, it was also believed that

supersonic airliner file:concorde.highup.arp.750pix.jpg, The Concorde supersonic transport had an ogive, ogival delta wing, a slender fuselage and four underslung Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 engines. file:Tu-144.jpg, The Tupolev Tu-144 was the first SST to enter s ...

s would succeed larger, slower planes. Thus, it was believed that most subsonic aircraft would become obsolete for passenger travel and would be eventually converted to freighters. As a result, airline manufacturers opted for a wider fuselage rather than a taller one (the

747 747 may refer to: * 747 (number), a composite number * AD 747, a year of the Julian calendar * 747 BC, a year in the 8th century BC * Boeing 747, a large commercial plane Arts and media * 747s (band), an indie band * ''747'' (album), by country m ...

, and eventually the

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the Douglas DC-8, DC-8 for long-Range (aeronautics), range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; i ...

and

Lockheed L-1011 TriStar The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter commercial operations, after the Boeing 747 ...

). By adding a second aisle, the wider aircraft could accommodate as many as 10 seats across, but could also be easily converted to a freighter and carry two eight-by-eight freight pallets abreast. The engineers also opted for creating "stretched" versions of the DC-8 (61, 62 and 63 models), as well as longer versions of Boeing's 707 (-320B and 320C models) and 727 (-200 model); and Douglas' DC-9 (-30, -40, and -50 models), all of which were capable of accommodating more seats than their shorter predecessor versions.

1970s

The wide-body age of jet travel began in 1970 with the entry into service of the first wide-body airliner, the four-engined, partial double-deck

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

.Rumerman, Judy
"The Boeing 747"
, U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. Retrieved: 30 April 2006. New

wide-body aircraft soon followed, including the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the L-1011 TriStar. The first wide-body

, the

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is Airbus' first production aircraft and the world's first Twinjet, twin-engine, double-aisle Wide-body aircraft, (wide-body) airliner. It was developed by ''Airbus Industrie GIE'', now merged into Airbus SE, and manufactured f ...

, entered service in 1974. This period came to be known as the "wide-body wars". L-1011 TriStars were demonstrated in the USSR in 1974, as Lockheed sought to sell the aircraft to Aeroflot. However, in 1976 the Soviet Union launched its own first four-engined wide-body, the

Ilyushin Il-86 The Ilyushin Il-86 (; NATO reporting name: Camber) is a retired short- to medium- range wide-body jet airliner that served as the USSR's first wide-bodied aircraft. Designed and tested by the Ilyushin design bureau in the 1970s, it was certifi ...

. After the success of the early wide-body aircraft, several subsequent designs came to market over the next two decades, including the

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified ...

and 777, the

and

Airbus A340 The Airbus A340 is a long-haul, long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the Airbus A300, A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 qu ...

, and the

. In the "jumbo" category, the capacity of the Boeing 747 was not surpassed until October 2007, when the

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a very large wide-body airliner, developed and produced by Airbus until 2021. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the pr ...

entered commercial service with the nickname "Superjumbo". Both the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 "jumbo jets" have four engines each (quad-jets), but the upcoming

Boeing 777X The Boeing 777X is the latest series of the Long-haul, long-range, Wide-body aircraft, wide-body, Twinjet, twin-engine jetliners in the Boeing 777 family from Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The changes for 777X include General Electric GE9X engi ...

("mini jumbo jet") is a twinjet. In the mid-2000s, rising oil costs in a post-

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

climate caused airlines to look towards newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft. Two such examples are the

Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, wh ...

and

Airbus A350 XWB The Airbus A350 is a flight length, long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbu ...

. The proposed

Comac C929 The Comac C929 is a long-range 250-to-320-seat wide-body twinjet airliner being developed by China's state-owned aircraft manufacturer Comac as a competitor to the Airbus A330neo and Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The programme was previously develope ...

and C939 may also share this new wide-body market. A cross-section comparison of Airbus A380 (double-deck the full length) and Boeing 747-400 (double-deck only in the front section) The production of the large

Boeing 747-8 The Boeing 747-8 is the final series of the large, long-range wide-body airliners in the Boeing 747 family from Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the largest model variant of the 747 and Boeing's largest aircraft overall. Following the intro ...

and Airbus A380 four-engine, long-haul jets has come to an end as airlines are now preferring the smaller, more efficient Airbus A350, Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 twin-engine, long-range airliners.

Design

Fuselage

file:Airbus A300 cross section.jpg, An

's cross-section, showing cargo, passenger, and overhead areas Although wide-body aircraft have larger frontal areas (and thus greater form drag) than narrow-body aircraft of similar capacity, they have several advantages over their narrow-body counterparts, such as: * Larger cabin space for passengers, giving a more open feeling. * Lower ratio of surface area to volume, and thus lower drag per passenger or cargo volume. The only exception to this would be with very long narrow-body aircraft, such as the

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the trijet Boeing 727, 727, received its first orders in August 1978. The ...

and

Airbus A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body, commercial passenger Twinjet, twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was ...

. * Twin aisles that accelerate loading, unloading, and evacuation compared to a single aisle (wide-body airliners typically have 3.5 to 5 seats abreast per aisle, compared to 5–6 on most narrow-body aircraft). * Reduced overall aircraft length for a given capacity, improving ground manoeuvrability and reducing the risk of tail strikes. * Greater under-floor freight capacity. * Better structural efficiency for larger aircraft than would be possible with a narrow-body design. LX-LCL VN-A899 VN-A289 HAN 290325

British and Russian designers had proposed wide-body aircraft similar in configuration to the

Vickers VC10 The Vickers VC10 is a retired mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The VC10 is often compared to the larger Soviet Ily ...

and

Douglas DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast, single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced as the Douglas DC-9 prior to August 1967, after which point the company had merged with McDonnell ...

, but with a wide-body fuselage. The British BAC Three-Eleven project did not proceed due to lack of government backing, while the Russian

wide-body proposal eventually gave way to a more conventional wing-mounted engine design, most likely due to the inefficiencies of mounting such large engines on the aft fuselage.

Engines

The General Electric GE90 is the most powerful turbofan engine.">turbofan.html" ;"title="General Electric GE90 is the most powerful turbofan">General Electric GE90 is the most powerful turbofan engine. As jet engine power and reliability have increased over the last decades, most of the wide-body aircraft built today have only two engines. A

design is more fuel-efficient than a

of similar size. The increased reliability of modern jet engines also allows aircraft to meet the

ETOPS The Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards (ETOPS) () are safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for Twinjet, twin-engine commercial passenger aircraft operations. They are a safety measu ...

certification standard, which calculates reasonable safety margins for flights across oceans. The trijet design was dismissed due to higher maintenance and fuel costs compared to a twinjet. Most modern wide-body aircraft have two engines, although the heaviest wide-body aircraft, the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 747-8, are built with four engines. The upcoming Boeing 777X-9 twinjet is approaching the capacity of the earlier Boeing 747. The Boeing 777 twinjet features the most powerful jet engine, the

General Electric GE90 The General Electric GE90 is a family of High-bypass turbofan engine, high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines built by GE Aerospace for the Boeing 777, with thrust ratings from . It entered service with British Airways in November 1995. It is one ...

. The early variants have a fan diameter of , and the larger GE90-115B has a fan diameter of . This is almost as wide as the

Fokker 100 The Fokker 100 is a regional jet that was produced by Fokker in the Netherlands. The Fokker 100 was based on the Fokker F28 with a fuselage stretched by to seat up to 109 passengers, up from 85. It is powered by two newer Rolls-Royce Tay tur ...

fuselage. Complete GE90 engines can only be ferried by outsize cargo aircraft such as the

Antonov An-124 The Antonov An-124 Ruslan (; ; NATO reporting name: Condor) is a large, strategic airlift, four-engined aircraft that was designed in the 1980s by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union (USSR). The An-124 is the ...

, presenting logistics problems if a 777 is stranded in a place due to emergency diversions without the proper spare parts. If the fan is removed from the core, then the engines may be shipped on a Boeing 747 Freighter. The

General Electric GE9X The General Electric GE9X is a high-bypass turbofan developed by GE Aerospace exclusively for the Boeing 777X. It first ran on the ground in April 2016 and first flew on March 13, 2018; it powered the 777-9's maiden flight in early 2020. It ...

, powering the Boeing 777X, is wider than the GE90 by . The

maximum takeoff weight The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft, also known as the maximum structural takeoff weight or maximum structural takeoff mass, is the maximum weight at which the p ...

of the Airbus A380 would not have been possible without the engine technology developed for the Boeing 777 such as contra-rotating spools. Its

Trent 900 The Rolls-Royce Trent 900 is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc to power the Airbus A380, competing with the Engine Alliance GP7000. Initially proposed for the Boeing 747#747-500X, -600X, and -700X, Boeing 747-500/600X in July ...

engine has a fan diameter of , slightly smaller than the GE90 engines on the Boeing 777. The Trent 900 is designed to fit into a Boeing 747-400F freighter for easier transport by

air cargo Air cargo is any property carried or to be carried in an aircraft. Air cargo comprises air freight, air express and airmail. Aircraft types Different cargo can be transported by passenger, cargo or combi aircraft: * Passenger aircraft use the ...

Interior

The interiors of aircraft, known as the

aircraft cabin An aircraft cabin is the section of an aircraft in which passengers travel. Most modern commercial aircraft are pressurized, as cruising altitudes are high enough such that the surrounding atmosphere is too thin for passengers and crew to brea ...

, have been undergoing evolution since the first passenger aircraft. Today, between one and four classes of travel are available on wide-body aircraft. Bar and lounge areas which were once installed on wide-body aircraft have mostly disappeared, but a few have returned in first class or

business class Business class is a travel class available on many commercial airlines and rail lines, known by brand names that vary by airline or rail company. In the airline industry, it was originally intended as an intermediate level of service between e ...

on the Airbus A340-600,

Boeing 777-300ER The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long haul, long-range Wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 777 is the world's largest twinjet and the mo ...

, and on the Airbus A380.

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective ...

has installed showers for first-class passengers on the A380; twenty-five minutes are allotted for use of the room, and the shower operates for a maximum of five minutes. Depending on how the

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

configures the aircraft, the size and

seat pitch An airline seat is a seat on an airliner in which passengers are accommodated for the duration of the journey. Such seats are usually arranged in rows running across the airplane's fuselage. A diagram of such seats in an aircraft is called an ...

of the

airline seat An airline seat is a seat on an airliner in which passengers are accommodated for the duration of the journey. Such seats are usually arranged in rows running across the airplane's fuselage. A diagram of such seats in an aircraft is called an ...

s will vary significantly. For example, aircraft scheduled for shorter flights are often configured at a higher seat density than

long-haul In aviation, the flight length or flight distance refers to the distance of a flight. Aircraft do not necessarily follow the great-circle distance, but may opt for a longer route due to weather, traffic, to utilise a jet stream, or to refuel. Co ...

aircraft. Due to current economic pressures on the airline industry, high seating densities in the economy class cabin are likely to continue. In some of the largest single-deck wide-body aircraft, such as the Boeing 777, the extra space above the cabin is used for crew rest areas and galley storage. File:3-3-3 seat configuration of the A350 economy-class cabin.jpg, The economy class cabin of an Airbus A350 File:1-2-1 seat configuration of the A350 business class cabin.jpg, The

cabin on an A350 File:First class cabin B747-400 Cathay Pacific.jpg,

Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, or simply Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main airline hub, hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and its subsidiaries have schedule ...

's first class cabin on board a

Jumbo jets

The term "jumbo jet" usually refers to the largest variants of wide-body airliners; examples include the

(the first wide-body and original "jumbo jet"),

("superjumbo jet"), and Boeing 777-9. The phrase "jumbo jet" derives from

Jumbo Jumbo (December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and then tr ...

, a circus elephant in the 19th century.

Wake turbulence and separation

A NASA study on wingtip vortices, which illustrates wake turbulence">wingtip_vortices.html" ;"title="NASA study on wingtip vortices">NASA study on wingtip vortices, which illustrates wake turbulence Aircraft are categorized by ICAO according to the wake turbulence they produce. Because wake turbulence is generally related to the weight of an aircraft, these categories are based on one of four weight categories: light, medium, heavy, and super. Due to their weight, all current wide-body aircraft are categorized as "

heavy Heavy may refer to: Measures * Heavy, a characterization of objects with substantial weight * Heavy, a wake turbulence category used by pilots and air traffic controllers to refer to aircraft with a maximum takeoff mass of 136,000 kgs or mo ...

", or in the case of the A380 in U.S. airspace, "super". The wake-turbulence category also is used to guide the separation of aircraft. Super- and heavy-category aircraft require greater separation behind them than those in other categories. In some countries, such as the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, it is a requirement to suffix the aircraft's

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

with the word ''heavy'' (or ''super'') when communicating with

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

in certain areas.

Special uses

A U.S.

file:Dmitry Medvedev in Namibia 26 June 2009-1.jpg, 200px, Russian presidential Il-96 used by Russian government officials Wide-body aircraft are used in science, research, and the military. Some wide-body aircraft are used as flying command posts by the military like the

Ilyushin Il-80 The Ilyushin Il-80 (NATO reporting name: Maxdome) is a Russian airborne command and control aircraft modified from the Ilyushin Il-86 airliner. Development The Ilyushin Il-80 has the NATO reporting name Maxdome (though some sources claim it u ...

or the

Boeing E-4 The Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post (AACP), the current "Nightwatch" aircraft, is a series of strategic command and control military aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). The E-4 series are specially modified from ...

, while the

Boeing E-767 The Boeing E-767 is an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft that was designed in response to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's requirements. It is essentially the Boeing E-3 Sentry's surveillance radar and air control system ins ...

is used for

airborne early warning and control An airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system is an airborne radar early warning system designed to detect aircraft, ships, vehicles, missiles and other incoming projectiles at long ranges, as well as performing command and control of the ...

. New military weapons are tested aboard wide-bodies, as in the laser weapons testing on the

Boeing YAL-1 The Boeing YAL-1 airborne laser testbed was a modified Boeing 747-400F with a megawatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) mounted inside. It was primarily designed to test its feasibility as a missile defense system to destroy tactica ...

. Other wide-body aircraft are used as flying research stations, such as the joint German–U.S.

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy The Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) was an 80/20 joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to construct and maintain an airborne observatory. NASA awarded the contract for the development of the aircra ...

(SOFIA). Airbus A340, Airbus A380, and Boeing 747 four-engine wide-body aircraft are used to test new generations of aircraft engines in flight. A few aircraft have also been converted for

aerial firefighting Aerial firefighting, also known as waterbombing, is the use of aircraft and other aerial resources to Wildfire suppression, combat wildfires. The types of aircraft used include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Smokejumpers and rappellers ar ...

, such as the DC-10-based

Tanker 910 The DC-10 Air Tanker is a series of 5 air tankers converted by American joint technical venture 10 Tanker Air Carrier, which have been in service as aerial firefighting aircraft since 2006. The aircraft are converted McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s ...

and the

747-200 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

-based

Evergreen Supertanker The 747 Supertanker is a retired aerial firefighting airtanker derived from various Boeing 747 models. The aircraft is rated to carry up to of fire retardant or water. It is the largest aerial firefighting aircraft in the world. Initially de ...

. Some wide-body aircraft are used as VIP transport. To transport those holding the highest offices, Canada uses the

Airbus A310 The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, Aircraft design process, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie GIE, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers. Airbus had identified a demand for an aircraft smaller than the Airbus ...

, while Russia uses the

Ilyushin Il-96 The Ilyushin Il-96 () is a Russian Four-engined jet aircraft, four-engined jet long-haul Wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed by Ilyushin in the former Soviet Union and manufactured by the Voronezh Aircraft Production Association in R ...

. Germany replaced its aging Airbus A340 with three

Airbus A350 The Airbus A350 is a flight length, long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbu ...

aircraft. Specially-modified Boeing 747-200s (

Boeing VC-25 The Boeing VC-25 is a military version of the Boeing 747 airliner, modified for presidential transport and commonly operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) as ''Air Force One'', the call sign of any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the pr ...

s) are used to transport the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Outsize cargo

Some wide-body aircraft have been modified to enable transport of oversize cargo. Examples include the

Airbus Beluga The Airbus A300-600ST (Super Transporter), or Beluga, is a specialised wide-body airliner used to transport aircraft parts and outsize cargoes. It received the official name of ''Super Transporter'' early on, but its nickname, after the belu ...

Airbus BelugaXL The Airbus BelugaXL (A330-743L) is a large transport aircraft based on the Airbus A330-200F built by Airbus to replace the original Airbus Beluga, Airbus BelugaST (Super Transporter) to transport very large aircraft components, such as wings. The ...

and

Boeing Dreamlifter The Boeing Dreamlifter, officially the 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter (LCF), is an American wide-body cargo aircraft modified extensively from the Boeing 747-400 airliner. With a volume of it has three times the volume of a 747-400F freighter ...

. Two specially modified Boeing 747s were used to transport the U.S.

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

, while the

Antonov An-225 The Antonov An-225 Mriya (; NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a large strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed and produced by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was originally developed during the 1980s as an enlarged derivat ...

was initially built to carry the

Buran shuttle ''Buran'' (, , ; GRAU index serial number: 11F35 1K, construction number: 1.01) was the first spaceplane to be produced as part of the Soviet/Russian Buran programme, Buran program. The Buran orbiters were similar in design to the Space Shutt ...

Comparison

References

External links

Airplane seat pitch and width information in table form

Etihad Airways A340-600 interior
{{Authority control Aircraft configurations Lists of aircraft by design configuration