These fastest commercial passenger planes in the world today will ensure that you arrive at your destination in the speediest possible way.
At one moment in aviation history, it seemed certain that supersonic was the future of commercial passenger planes. Supersonic transport aircraft (SST) were considered the top of the line in passenger transportation and several of them were being developed in the late 1960s and 1970s. Only two SSTs, however, saw active service, Tupolev Tu-144, and much more famous Concorde. The Soviets flew first, two months before the Anglo-French plane. Two planes were so similar that Western press nicknamed Tu-155 “Concordski” and there was plenty of rumors about KGB’s involvement in industrial espionage. Tu-144 had a very short history, due to many problems it experienced, including the one that led to 1973 Paris Air Show crash, which killed 14 people (crew of six and eight people on the ground). In 1978 another crash sealed the fate of the Concordski. Aeroflot withdrew all remaining planes from active service the following year.
benemale/Shutterstock.com
The British and French partnership was more successful, as far as those partnerships go. Concorde went on to serve until 2003 when the last one was finally grounded. Similar to its Soviet counterpart, it was a crash that ended its career. Air France Flight 4590 had an accident during the takeoff, which resulted in 113 people killed.
What killed SSTs around the world was the economy. The oil crisis that rocked the world in 1970 persuaded airline companies to seek planes that were primarily cheap to operate. Neither of the SST was in that category, by any stretch of the imagination and the operating costs for Concorde were astronomical, which led to equally outrageous ticket prices. Americans also had plans for SST, but after huge amounts of money sunk into the program, it got canceled, unlike the projects that led to 10 Fastest US Air Force Fighter Planes. As technology progressed, the airlines were being able to provide more and more amenities on their flights and comfort became more important than speed. After all, if you can spend your flight connected to the Internet and enjoying quality entertainment, there’s not much need for hurry. The supersonic speeds remained reserved for military jets.
Technological progress also led to far more economical engines, which offers a glimpse of hope for Supersonic transport aircraft. Currently, there are several projects that hope to bring supersonic jets back as commercial passenger planes. A Denver-based startup called Boom (admittedly, not the most fortunate name for the aircraft manufacturer) is currently working on a project promising to produce a Mach 2.2 commercial passenger plane. It will be almost 100 mph faster than Concorde, but with less room (40 passengers, opposed to 100 that its predecessor had. There are even plans for the return of Concorde into active service, with a price label of mere £160 million (roughly $200 million).
In order to create the list of 11 fastest commercial passenger planes in the world today, we started at Modern Airliners. We excluded all smaller planes, typically designated under a business jet label since they aren’t airliners and a majority of us won’t get a chance to fly in them. Then we ran into a dilemma. Do we rank them according to the maximum or cruising speed? After some pondering, it was decided that maximal speed doesn’t really matter, since commercial passenger planes rarely, if ever, use it. Instead, we opted for cruising speed, which represents the speed at which an airliner can fly as fast as possible and still remain economically viable and safe. The data on speed came from Flugzeug Info Aircraft Encyclopedia, as well as manufacturers’ websites. Here is the list of fastest commercial passenger planes in the world today.
11. Embraer ERJ 145 series
Cruise Speed: Mach 0.8
Engines: 2
The first airliner on our list is a family of Brazilian jets, called Embraer ERJ 145 series. Equipped with Rolls-Royce AE 3007, ERJ 145 suffered several setbacks during the design process and early manufacturing. At one time, it was even shelved by the company in 1992. The delivery finally started in 1996, with some 890 airliners delivered. The production was continued in China for the local market until 2016.
10. Bombardier C Series
Cruise Speed: Mach 0.82
Engines: 2
Bombardier C Series is one of the most modern designs on our list. Its creation started in 2004, under the imaginative name New Commercial Aircraft Program. Bombardier tasked Gary Scott with the supervision and evaluation of the new design, which was offered to the airlines in 2005. The production was planned to start in 2013, however, financial difficulties postponed that date several times. The future of C-series was hanging in the balance, but it was saved by the Canadian government’s bailout. Finally, the first customer, Swiss Global Air Lines, received its order of three CS100 airliners in 2016.
9. Embraer E-170/E-175/E-190/E-195
Cruise Speed: Mach 0.82
Engines: 2
Embraer E-Jet family are considered some of the safest and most efficient airliners in service today. The initial success caught the Brazilian company on the wrong foot and it took them a while to ramp up the production to meet the demand. The E-jet family entered production in 2001 and since then more than 1,300 have been produced and delivered to the airlines worldwide.
8. Airbus A330
Cruise Speed: Mach 0.82
Engines: 2
The roots of A330 go back to 1970s and Airbus’s original airliner, A300. It offered several features that were revolutionary at the time it was launched, including a glass cockpit, fly-by-wire system and a choice of three different engines, depending on the customer’s needs. More than 1,300 of them were built since 1992 when it was first offered to the airlines. It also serves in several air forces in its transport and tanker variants.
7. Bombardier CRJ 700/CRJ 705/CRJ 900/CRJ 1000
Cruise Speed: Mach 0.825
Engines: 2
The best testimony of how successful Bombardier CRJ 700-series models are is a fact that somewhere in the world one of them take off or lands every 10 seconds. Designed as a response to Fokker 70 and Embraer E-series, CRJ 700 started as a mid-size regional airliner with 70 seats. Later, additional versions were made, namely CRJ 900 with 90 and CRJ 1000 with 1000 seats. This made the CRJ 700 series highly adaptable and versatile, making it one of the most successful regional jets in Nort America, where they constitute some 20% of all jet departures.
6. AIRBUS A340 500
Cruise Speed: Mach 0.83
Engines: 4
Originally envisioned as the 4-engine version of the Airbus original model A300 (hence the 4 in 340), A340 went on to become a highly successful design on its own. For a while, it held the title of the longest range commercial airliner, until Boeing 777-200LR, which was also more economical, which led Airbus to shut down the production in 2011, but there are plenty of them still in service. With a speed of Mach 0.83, it deserved a place on our list of fastest commercial passenger planes in the world today.
5. Boeing 777
Cruise Speed: Mach 0.84
Engines: 4
When designing new 777 model, that ranked 5th on our list of fastest commercial passenger planes in the world today Boeing decided to depart from the norm and do things the unorthodox way. The company called upon airlines to offer their feedback on the design. Newly born Working Together Group consisted of eight leading airlines at the time and their input was very valuable in creating the new airliner. In fact, some claim that the method was crucial to the commercial success of Boeing 777.
4. Airbus 350 XWB
Cruise Speed: Mach 0.85
Engines: 2
Up next on our list of fastest commercial passenger planes in the world today is Airbus 350 XWB that started its life as a project to improve A330, by adding newly designed wings and several other features aimed at increasing the airliner’s performance and fuel efficiency. After receiving complaints from several customers (and faced with competition from the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner) Airbus decided to throw a new body into the mix and A350 XWB (extra wide body) was born. While less than a hundred of new aircraft are made so far, Airbus has some 900 on order, which is a testimony of how successful the design is.
3. Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Cruise Speed: Mach 0.85
Engines: 2
In the aftermath of September 11 attacks, faced with rising oil prices and a general decline in passengers, Boeing abandoned its work on a Sonic Cruiser, designed for Mach 0.9+ speed. Instead, in 2003, the company announced the new midsized, two engine jet, called 7E7. Eight years and $32 billion later, the first 787, the number three on our list of fastest commercial passenger planes in the world today, took to the skies. The new airliner was more focused on fuel efficiency than speed, hence 50% of the materials used in its construction were composites. It can achieve Mach 0.85, while burning 20% less fuel than its predecessor, Boeing 767.
2. Airbus A380
Cruise Speed: Mach 0.85
Engines: 4
The long-awaited Airbus’ ultra-high-capacity airliner had its first in service flight in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines. Since then, more than 200 of 72-meter long behemoths were delivered to airlines all over the world. Designed to break Boeing’s monopoly on the market segment dominated by the 747, A380 proved to be a successful design, popular with both airlines’ executives and pilots. One of the factors behind its popularity is its speed. In order to reach Mach 0.85, the world’s largest passenger airplane comes with two engines’ options, Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7200, generating some 70,000 lbf of trust.
1. Boeing 747
Cruise Speed: Mach 0.855
Engines: 4
One of the most recognizable aircraft of the 20th century, Boeing 747, the number one on our list of fastest commercial passenger planes in the world today is a legend among the airliners. First introduced in 1969, the original Jumbo Jet is still in service today, a testimony to its versatile design. More than 1,500 of them were produced and many are still in service. The latest version, 747-8, was announced in 2005 and can carry up to 467 passengers at Mach 0.855, which makes it the fastest commercial passenger jet in the world today.
