The Top 10 Modern Airliners

Since the first Boeing 737-100 went into service in 1967 with Lufthansa, the Boeing 737 family -- now in its third generation -- has accumulated orders for more than 7,800 aircraft and is easily the best-selling jetliner family of all time. The third generation of 737s, the 737NG family that includes the 737-600, 737-700, 737-800 and 737-900 along with longer-range and higher-weight variants of the basic models, has sold more than 4,700 aircraft since going into development some 15 years ago. Operated in just about every country in the world, the 737NG family looks set to fly for decades to come and the 737 in all its generations probably represents the airline industry's greatest-ever workhorse.

With sales now topping 6,100, the A320 family is second only to the Boeing 737 in terms of aircraft sold and it could yet top Boeing's cash cow for sales, because orders continue to pour in. The first A320 entered service with the former Air Inter in the late 1980s and the family has been expanded and significantly upgraded since. The A320 family has four basic members. In order of seat capacity, they are the A318, A319, A320 and A321, with the two middle-sized models dominating sales. Offering a slightly wide passenger cabin than the 737, the A320 family is operated just about everywhere in the world -- including Antarctica.

Made by ATR Regional Aircraft, a two-member partnership whose members are based in France and Italy, the 50-seat ATR 42 entered service in 1985. It was soon followed by its stretched sister the ATR 72, which seats more than 70 people. Both aircraft types subsequently received major upgrades and the versions currently sold are the ATR 42-500 and the ATR 72-500. Sales of the ATR turboprop family -- in operation all over the world -- are approaching 1,000 and are accelerating as the cost of fuel soars and airlines rediscover the compelling cost-efficiencies that modern turboprop regional airliners offer. ATR is now developing the ATR 600, a further upgrade of the ATR 72.

Like the competing ATR family of regional turboprop airliners, Bombardier's 'Q' family first entered service in the mid-1980s (in the form of the Dash 8-100) and has notched up orders for nearly 1,000 aircraft. After a sales slump in the 1990s and early 2000s as regional jets came to dominate the regional-airline scene, orders have picked up substantially. Using proprietary electronic-damping technology, Bombardier has succeeded in making its Q turboprops' cabins as quiet and vibration-free as those of jets. Its latest and largest Q turboprop, the 70-plus-seat Q400, is as fast as a jet on flights up to 600 miles and now is the strongest-selling member of the family. So popular with airlines is the Q400 that Bombardier is considering an even larger 'Q' turboprop.

The Airbus A330 medium-to-long haul and A340 long-haul jets made modern history when they entered service in the early 1990s as the first widebody aircraft with the same fuselage but different numbers of engines. Sales of the A330 twin-engine jet were initially slow, but picked up enormously when Airbus introduced the A330-200 as a shorter-fuselage, longer-haul development of the initial A330-300. Subsequently the A330-200 has become by far the best-selling member of the family. Initial A340s were powered by four CFM56-5C engines, but the bigger, longer-haul A340-500 and A340-600 -- the world's longest commercial jet -- that were developed subsequently use much more powerful Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines. Some 1,300 A330s and A340s have been sold, but while the A330 continues to sell strongly, the four-engined A340 looks to have been outmoded by the twin-engine Boeing 777-300ER.

History was made when the first Boeing 777-200 -- registered N777UA -- was delivered to United Airlines in May 1995, because the 777 was the largest twin-engine widebody aircraft ever to enter service. It remains so today with the advent of the 777-300ER, a long-range, stretched version of the 777 which airlines are buying in droves as a more fuel-efficient replacement for their 747-400s and A340s. The 777-300ER made history in two ways: Not only is it the longest twin-engine jet ever built, but the 777-300ER also sports the most powerful jet engine ever developed -- the mighty GE 90-115B, which produces a massive 115,000 pounds of takeoff thrust. Another new 777 variant, the 777-200LR, is the world's longest-range airliner, capable of flying nonstop from London to Perth, Australia with a full load of passengers. Some 1,060 777s have now been ordered and the family looks set to achieve plenty more sales in years to come.

Sales of the five-seats-abreast, stand-up-cabin E-Jet family of four regional jet models have been nothing short of phenomenal since Embraer began producing the first model, the 70-seat Embraer 170, in 2002. Firm orders for this 70-to-110-seat family -- which includes the Embraer 170, the 175, the 190 and the 195, the longest-fuselage version of the four models -- are nearing 800 and customers have optioned a like number of E-Jets. The rapid growth of the E-Jet orderbook demonstrated the pent-up need that existed for large regional-jet airliner models that were slightly smaller (and lighter and more fuel-efficient) than the smallest members of the 737 and A320 mainline-narrowbody families.

Since the first CRJ 100 50-seat regional jet entered service in 1992, Bombardier has developed this four-seats-abreast family extensively, offering aircraft with cabin capacities that vary from 40 seats all the way up to 104 seats. Versions in production include the CRJ 200 (a 50-seater), the CRJ 700 and 705 (providing up to 75 seats), the CRJ 900 (offering up to 90 seats) and the new CRJ 1000, which will seat up to 104. Bombardier has developed a series of performance and structural improvements for its new-production CRJs and now is marketing each as a 'CRJ NextGen.' Firm orders for CRJ-family aircraft had reached 1,659 by March 2008 and with the new, larger members of the family now entering service (in the form of the CRJ 900) or shortly due to fly (the CRJ 1000), the sales impetus looks set to continue even as fuel prices increase.

The cost of developing the distinctively shaped and original "jumbo jet" in the late 1960s was so high that Boeing nearly drove itself into bankruptcy in the process. But the mighty 747 has repaid Boeing's massive gamble many times over, with more than 1,500 sold to date to airlines, governments and wealthy private customers all over the world. The 747 revolutionized the airline industry, making long-haul air transport truly affordable to the masses. The most successful 747 model to date has been the 747-400, developed in the mid-1980s and sold widely in both passenger and freighter versions (the 747-400 freighter has a shorter upper "hump" than the passenger version, having no need for the payload-reducing upper cabin). Known for decades as "the queen of the skies," the 747 is no longer the largest passenger jet since the advent of the Airbus A380. The 747's mantle as the primary long-haul passenger jet is being taken over by the 777-300ER and the Airbus A340-500/600, but Boeing's latest (and probably final) 747 model, the 747-8, looks set to become the primary large freighter for the world's airlines.

The first passenger jet given the sobriquet "superjumbo" by the world's media, the huge A380 entered service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines. Despite the highly publicized production teething troubles Airbus had with the A380, the orderbook for the big jet stayed intact and has recently begun to grow again, reaching nearly 200 aircraft. Given the history of the rival Boeing 747, some industry insiders think that not only will the A380 remain in service for at least the next 40 years as a passenger and cargo aircraft, but also that the highest-selling version will actually be a model that is even longer and has a higher seat capacity than the A380-800 in service now.