The three aircraft manufacturers which produce most of the world’s commercial airliners are Boeing, Airbus and Embraer. This guide focuses on breaking down each airframer’s respective aircraft families and the variants of each example.
Airbus
The European multi-national corporation Airbus is the world’s largest airliner manufacturer and last year took the most orders. The firm has seven different aircraft families currently in production including the A220, A320ceo, A320neo, A330ceo, A330neo, A350 and A380.
The A220 was acquired from Bombardier Aerospace in 2017 and was originally named the CSeries.
The ‘ceo’ and ‘neo’ naming convention identifies the company’s old and next-generation examples – ceo stands for ‘current engine option’, while neo simply means ‘new engine option’.
Boeing
Seattle-based Boeing boasts a product line currently comprising five aircraft types including the 737, 747, 767, 777 and 787.
The production of the 737 has been running since 1966 and is now on its fourth generation …
