Flying by plane has become so commonplace that many people do it as naturally as walking through their own neighbourhood. For those who fly with some frequency, it is quite common to to get to know the aircraft models on which they travel. The most experienced flyers even know which are the best seats on each aircraft, the capacity for hand luggage, where the emergency exits are, the location of the lavatory and other particularities, which will depend in any case on the model of aircraft they are going to fly in. But do we know what the names of each aircraft model are?
The acronyms that identify each aircraft model reveal many characteristics that we can use to travel better and in a way that best suits our preferences.
From the beginning of the aeronautical industry, the naming of the models that were created had a very simple logic. In general, the starting point was a common name to which the numbering was increased according to the evolution or version of the model.
The Wright Brothers made their first flight in the Flyer I (christened the Kitty Hawk) and subsequently brought out the Flyer II and Flyer III.
Juan de la Ciervainventor of the gyroplaneThe first model was called the Cierva C-1, which did not even get off the ground, as the C-3 did. It was the beginning of an aircraft saga that ended with the C-40.
In the field of commercial aircraft, there is the example of the Douglas Aircraft Companyone of the historic aircraft manufacturers, which in 1933 brought out its first model, the revolutionary DC-1. The acronym DC stands for "Douglas Commercial". It was followed by the DC-2 and the best-selling DC-3... and so on to the DC-9.
Something similar has happened with most aircraft manufacturers up to the present day.
If you fly in an aircraft today, chances are that it is from one of the two largest global manufacturers. In the case of the name of the Boeing always start with the number 7, whereas in the case of AirbusLet's see why.
Boeing was born in 1916 under the name of Pacific Aero Products and in its early days was primarily involved in the manufacture of seaplanesthe first of which was called the B-1 (1919). Obviously the "B" stood for Boeing and the "1" corresponded to the fact that it was its first model. Subsequently, the company evolved and diversified The company was active in the production of aircraft, ships, rockets and other military equipment, especially until the end of the Second World War, during which time it focused on the construction of bombers, building up to 300 units per month at its peak.
Once the war was over, there was no point in continuing to produce such a large volume of military equipment, and the company was forced to a major restructuring that focused it, to a large extent, on the production of commercial aircraft..
In the early 1950s, in the early 1950s, the de Havilland DH.106 Comet, the first jet-powered commercial passenger aircraft. Boeing saw a clear opportunity in this segment and in 1952 presented its programme for the development of civil jet-powered aircraft. When looking for a name for this new line of aircraft, they turned to their roster. After the war, and for better internal organisation, Boeing had established different product seriesThe following were classified according to hundreds. They were as follows:
- 100 Series: Helicopters
- 200 Series: Pre-World War II aircraft
- 300 Series: Civilian Propeller Aircraft
- 400 Series: Military Propeller Aircraft
- 500 Series: Turbines, engines
- 600 series: Missiles and rockets
- 700 Series: Commercial Jet Aircraft
- 900 Series: Experimental models
At that time, all the hundreds naming their products were already filled up to 600, so this new type of aircraft to be developed would be named with the number 700, the next on the list.
The new aircraft was to be called the B701, but the company's marketing department felt that this was an unattractive name for such an important venture. It was therefore proposed to call it the B707, the name under which it was launched in October 1958, with a first flight between New York and Paris operated by PanAm. It remained in production until 1978.
There was a smaller version of the 707-020 model, renamed the B720, which was intended to be a shorter, lighter and higher performing aircraft than its larger sibling. It was an anomalous designation.
The next model on the naming scale, however, was the B717. It was attributed to Boeing's smallest aircraft, which came from the takeover of McDonnell Douglas and was originally called the MD-95 (an evolution of the DC-9). It was in production between 1999 and 2005, once its order backlog had been fulfilled.
Thereafter, Boeing consistently retained the B7x7 designation. for the new aircraft families, where only the ten would vary according to the time sequence of aircraft development and independent of aircraft size.
Next on the list was the B727, which entered service in 1964 and remained in production until 1984. It was a narrow-body, medium-sized, 180-passenger, narrow-body jet trimotor, of which more than 1,800 were produced.
In the case of the B727 it was when it was developed and organised for the first time a complete family of versions of the same modelwhere the denomination was accompanied by a series of alphanumeric characters indicating its type and purpose. In this case they were as follows:
- B727-100: First production model of the 727 family.
- B727-100C: Convertible passenger/cargo version.
- B727-100QC: Fast convertible passenger/cargo version.
- B727-100QF: UPS and business cargo version.
- B727-200: Longer version, 6.1 metres longer than the B727-100.
- B727-200ADV: Advanced version, with longer range and new avionics.
- B727-200WL: Winglet version.
- B727-200RE: Remotorised version.
- B727-200F: Freighter-only version (freight).
The next model on the list was the B737, which entered service in February 1968. It has been in production by Boeing without interruption since 1967, being the most widely sold aircraft in aviation historyabout 11,000. This model was intended to improve the efficiency of previous commercial aircraft, with a more versatile, smaller, twin-engined, lower-cost airframe.
This model has enjoyed various designations and sub-designations: B737 Original (100 and 200 series), B737 Classic (300, 400 and 500 series), B737 Next Generation (600 to 900 series) and B737 MAX (7, 8 and 9 series).
The next model, the B747, popularly known as the "Jumbo", marked a milestone in aviation by being the first commercial wide-body, twin-aisle, twin-bridge commercial aircraft (double-decker) passenger aircraft. Its first flight was in January 1970 and more than 1,500 have been produced. It was also the first aircraft to be designed from the ground up considering dual passenger/cargo use. The different series that were made of this model were the 100 (the original), 200, 300, 400 and 8. Each of them was accompanied by a series of initials indicating the functionality of the aircraft (passenger, cargo, mixed use, length...).
From the next model in the naming order, the B757 onwards, all have been twin-aisle aircraft. These are the B767, B777 and B787. According to this, the next aircraft to be produced by the company should logically be called the B797, although this is another story.
In the case of AirbusIn 1966, the company's origins date back to the time when several European aircraft manufacturers conceived the possibility of building an aircraft to compete with the ubiquitous US aerospace industrydominated by Boeing, McDonnell Douglas or Lockheed.
The new aeronautical consortium, called Airbus industrie, comprised Aérospatiale (France), Deutsche Airbus (Germany), Hawker Siddeley (later British Aerospace, UK), Fokker-VFM (Netherlands) and Construcciones Aeronauticas CASA (Spain).
The name of the first aircraft was A300. The letter "A" came from the initial of the company's name, The number 300 was due to the fact that in their initial project they were looking for a twin-engine aircraft capable of carrying some 300 passengers at an affordable cost. After preliminary studies, it was concluded that the feasibility of this first project involved reducing the capacity of the new model to 250 passengers and using one of the engines already on the market, specifically the Rolls-Royce RB207. Despite the change in the number of passengers, it was decided to keep the original name.
Once ready for the market, it was renamed the A300B, being a lighter and more economical aircraft than those made by US rivals. The immediate success of this aircraft established the consortium as a major manufacturer. By the end of 1979, there was already a backlog of more than 250 orders. With the idea of building on the confidence generated by the first modelAirbus Industrie decided to keep the A3xx designation for its commercial aircraft.
The next was the A310, a jet slightly shorter in length than its predecessor, but with a longer range.
It was followed by what is ultimately the company's biggest commercial success, the A320, which was accompanied by several models, all of them single-aisle twin-enginewhich maintained the same design principles. They were therefore named with numbers from their immediate surroundings: A318, A319, A320 and A321, slightly breaking the dynamics initiated for naming the aircraft models.
Next came the models A330 (November 1992), A340 (October 1991) and A350 (June 2013), which followed the company's own pattern. A330 and A340 were developed in parallel, and even share many components. The basic difference is that the former is a twin-engine while the latter is a four-engine. The A350, on the other hand, has been a revolution as it is the first model to be developed by Airbus with a mindset entirely dominated by efficiency and the fight for climate change. The use of composite materials and a new generation of engines makes it the most efficient model in its class on the market today.
Prior to launching the A350 model, Airbus took a leap in numbering by introducing its A380 (April 2005), whose name is associated with the fact that in its initial design it was intended that A340 capacity to be doubled (which did not happen, by the way), which was the company's largest aircraft at the time.
Finally, Airbus itself has also broken with its naming habits with the launch of the A220, an aircraft initially developed by Bombardier Aerospace under the name C-Series and produced by a consortium between Bombardier, Airbus and the Government of Quebec. It has two versions, the A220-100 and A220-300.
In the case of Airbus, the naming of its models has certainly been more scattered than that of Boeing, so that, unlike the US manufacturer, it is difficult to know whether the next aircraft will be the A390. Or not.
Knowing all these aircraft model designations may seem as complex as it is useless. Maybe so, but I am sure that many frequent flyers not only identify each aircraft, but also know many particularities of each model and take advantage of the benefits of knowing the layout of the seats, the location of the toilets or where there is more legroom or luggage space. Happy flying.
