How High Do Planes Fly? Airliners vs Private Jets

Commercial airliners usually cruise between about 31,000 and 42,000 feet, roughly six to eight miles up. Private jets fly higher: many are certified to 45,000 feet, and the largest long-range jets to 51,000 feet, nearly ten miles above sea level. Turboprops cruise lower, around 25,000 to 35,000 feet, and small piston planes usually stay below 12,000 feet.

The exact altitude on any flight is a choice the crew makes with air traffic control, based on the aircraft's weight, the winds, the weather and the length of the trip. Every aircraft also has a hard ceiling: its maximum certified operating altitude.

Maximum altitude by aircraft

Typical cruising altitudes are the usual range for each type; the maximums are from the certification and manufacturer sources listed at the end of this article, and each is drawn on the altitude chart at the top of the page. Each private jet's ceiling is also on its ownership-cost page.

How high do commercial planes fly?

Most airliners cruise between about 31,000 and 42,000 feet. Their certified maximums are lower than many business jets':

• Boeing 777 and 787-8/-9, Airbus A350-900: 43,100 feet, the highest of today's airliners.
• Airbus A350-1000: 41,450 feet; Boeing 787-10: 41,100 feet.
• Boeing 737 MAX: 41,000 feet.
• Airbus A320neo: 39,100 feet in standard form (up to 41,000 feet with certain modifications).

A full long-haul airliner often cannot climb straight to its best altitude. It starts lower, around 31,000 to 35,000 feet, and "step climbs" higher as it burns fuel and gets lighter. Airliners also share the busiest band of the sky: between 29,000 and 41,000 feet, air traffic control separates aircraft by only 1,000 feet vertically (reduced vertical separation minimums, or RVSM), and most airline traffic sits inside it.

The record for a passenger airliner belongs to Concorde, which cruised at 55,000 to 60,000 feet at twice the speed of sound until it retired in 2003.

How high do private jets fly?

Private jets typically cruise between 41,000 and 45,000 feet, and the largest go higher:

• 51,000 feet: the long-range Gulfstreams (G500, G600, G700, G800), Bombardier's Global family and Dassault's Falcon 6X, 7X and 8X.
• 45,000 feet: most super-midsize, midsize and light jets, including the Challenger 3500, Citation Longitude, Citation Latitude, Citation CJ4 and Pilatus PC-24.
• 41,000 feet: very light jets such as the Citation M2.
• 31,000 feet: the single-engine Cirrus Vision Jet, the lowest-flying jet in production.

Flying above 41,000 feet puts a business jet above most airline traffic, where controllers can often give it a more direct route and a choice of altitude. Smaller jets climb quickly because they are light for their engine thrust; on a short hop they may still level off lower, since the climb would eat up most of the flight.

Why do planes fly so high?

Thinner air means less drag. At 40,000 feet the air is about a quarter as dense as at sea level, so an aircraft can fly faster on the same thrust. Jet engines are designed to be most efficient up there, so fuel burn per mile drops.

Above the weather. Most clouds, storms and low-level turbulence sit below cruising altitude. Thunderstorms can tower above 40,000 feet, which is one reason a jet that can climb to 45,000 or 51,000 feet has more options to go over the weather rather than around it.

Away from slower traffic. Above 18,000 feet is Class A airspace, where every aircraft flies under air traffic control on an instrument flight plan. Higher altitudes separate fast jets from slower turboprops and piston planes.

Room to recover. Altitude buys time: if something goes wrong, a crew at 40,000 feet has many minutes and many miles to find an airport.

What limits altitude. Each aircraft's ceiling is set by its wing and engines (the thinner the air, the less lift and thrust), by how strong its pressurized cabin is, and by the speed band between stalling and its maximum speed, which narrows as it climbs. The certified ceiling is the highest altitude the manufacturer has shown the aircraft can operate safely.

What it means for passengers

The cabin is pressurized, so passengers breathe air at a much lower "cabin altitude" than the plane is flying at. U.S. certification rules allow a cabin altitude of no more than 8,000 feet in normal flight (14 CFR 25.841). Newer business jets keep it far lower: Gulfstream quotes 2,840 feet at 41,000 feet for the G800, and Bombardier 2,691 feet for the Global 8000, which helps with fatigue on long flights.

If the cabin loses pressure, oxygen masks deploy and the crew descends quickly to a breathable altitude. Federal rules require supplemental oxygen for passengers above a cabin altitude of 15,000 feet and for the crew above 12,500 feet after 30 minutes (14 CFR 91.211).

Related questions

• How fast do planes fly at that altitude? Airliners cruise at around Mach 0.78 to 0.85, about 520 to 570 mph; see how fast planes fly.
• How far can they go? See how far planes and private jets can fly.
• Which jets fly highest and fastest? See the fastest private jets and the longest-range private jets.

Sources

• European Union Aviation Safety Agency type certificate data sheets: Boeing 737 MAX (IM.A.120), Boeing 787 (IM.A.115), Boeing 777 (IM.A.003), Airbus A320 family (EASA.A.064), Airbus A350 (EASA.A.151).
• Manufacturer specifications: Gulfstream G700 and G800, Bombardier Global 8000 and Challenger 3500, Dassault Falcon 8X, Cessna Citation CJ4 Gen3 and M2 Gen3, Cirrus Vision Jet, Pilatus PC-24.
• Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Concorde.
• Federal regulations: 14 CFR 71.33 (Class A airspace), Part 91 Appendix G (RVSM), 25.841, 91.211.