BTS | Table 1-13: Active U.S. Air Carrier and General Aviation Fleet by Type of Aircraft

Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) - Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) - United States Department of Transportation (USDOT, US DOT or DOT)

ABOUT RITA | CONTACT US | PRESS ROOM | CAREERS | SITE MAP

Data and Statistics

Bookstore

Programs

About BTS

Upcoming Press Releases

External Links

BTS Home > Publications > National Transportation Statistics > 2005

Table 1-13: Active U.S. Air Carrier and General Aviation Fleet by Type of Aircraft

(Number of carriers)

Excel | CSV

	1965	1970	1975	1980	^f1985	^f1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
AIR CARRIER^a	2,125	2,679	2,495	3,805	4,678	6,083	6,054	7,320	7,297	7,370	7,411	7,478	7,616	8,111	8,228	8,055	8,497	8,194	8,176
Fixed Wing	2,104	2,663	2,488	3,803	4,673	6,072	6,048	7,187	7,173	7,242	7,293	7,357	7,482	7,994	8,106	8,016	8,370	8,161	8,144
Turbojet, total	725	2,136	2,114	2,526	3,164	4,148	4,167	4,446	4,584	4,636	4,832	4,922	5,108	5,411	5,630	5,956	6,296	6,383	6,523
Four engine	511	931	602	436	322	432	410	389	410	420	435	440	450	447	441	432	419	365	337
Three engine	173	659	994	1,347	1,488	1,438	1,376	1,381	1,292	1,236	1,210	1,212	1,224	1,238	1,181	1,061	996	790	602
Two engine	41	546	518	743	1,354	2,278	2,381	2,676	2,882	2,980	3,187	3,270	3,434	3,726	4,008	4,463	4,881	5,228	5,584
Turboprop, total	312	374	260	682	1,073	1,595	1,598	1,894	1,868	1,782	1,713	1,696	1,646	1,832	1,788	1,475	1,494	1,250	1,123
Four engine	215	110	68	92	108	88	75	107	102	87	81	56	45	39	28	29	24	17	16
Two engine	89	259	192	590	965	1,507	1,523	1,787	1,751	1,695	1,632	1,635	1,596	1,789	1,759	1,440	1,470	1,233	1,107
One engine	8	5	N	N	N	N	N	N	15	0	0	5	5	4	1	0	0	0	0
Piston, total	1,067	153	114	595	436	329	283	847	721	824	748	739	728	751	688	585	580	528	498
Four engine	447	34	37	73	38	31	26	20	22	19	15	18	19	17	19	17	16	12	13
Three engine	590	110	69	N	4	6	5	5	0	5	1	7	4	3	3	3	3	3	3
Two engine	30	9	8	522	394	292	252	415	293	335	333	317	298	391	292	255	173	154	143
One engine	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	407	406	465	399	397	407	340	374	310	388	359	339
Helicopter	21	16	7	2	5	11	6	133	124	128	118	121	134	117	122	39	127	33	32
GENERAL AVIATION (GENERAL FLEET)^b	95,442	161,743	168,475	211,043	196,500	198,000	196,874	185,650	177,120	172,935	188,089	191,129	192,414	204,710	219,464	217,533	211,446	211,244	209,708
Fixed Wing	^c93,130	127,934	161,570	200,094	184,700	184,500	182,585	171,671	156,936	150,158	162,342	163,691	166,854	175,203	184,723	183,276	177,697	176,283	176,624
Turbojet, total	N	950	1,776	2,992	4,100	4,100	4,126	4,004	3,663	3,914	4,559	4,424	5,178	6,066	7,120	7,001	7,787	8,355	7,997
Two engine	N	^d822	^d1,742	2,551	3,600	3,700	3,863	3,738	3,426	3,652	4,071	4,077	4,638	5,513	6,387	6,215	5,643	7,655	7,465
Other	N	128	^e34	441	50	400	263	266	237	262	488	347	539	552	733	786	831	701	532
Turboprop, total	N	1,458	2,519	4,089	5,000	5,300	4,941	4,786	4,116	4,092	4,995	5,716	5,619	6,174	5,679	5,762	6,596	6,841	7,689
Two engine	N	1,287	^d2,486	3,966	4,900	4,900	4,415	4,187	3,443	3,605	4,295	4,917	4,939	5,076	4,641	5,040	5,643	5,703	5,790
One engine	N	138	33	N	N	N	N	N	650	481	668	719	650	1,033	1,018	678	915	1,108	1,821
Other	N	33	N	123	100	400	526	599	24	7	32	80	29	65	21	45	38	30	78
Piston, total	92,556	125,526	157,275	193,013	175,600	175,200	173,518	162,881	149,156	142,152	152,788	153,551	156,056	162,963	171,923	170,513	163,314	161,087	160,938
Two engine	^d11,422	15,835	^d20,331	24,366	22,100	21,100	20,551	17,966	15,626	14,750	15,706	16,082	15,938	18,659	20,930	20,951	18,192	17,483	17,491
One engine	81,134	109,492	136,944	168,435	153,400	154,000	152,836	144,837	133,516	127,351	137,049	137,401	140,038	144,234	150,886	149,422	145,034	143,503	143,265
Other	N	199	N	212	100	100	131	77	14	51	33	68	79	70	108	140	89	101	182
Rotorcraft	1,503	2,255	4,073	6,001	6,000	6,900	6,238	5,979	4,721	4,728	5,830	6,570	6,786	7,425	7,448	7,150	6,783	6,648	6,525
Piston	N	1,666	2,499	2,794	2,700	3,200	2,390	2,348	1,846	1,627	1,863	2,507	2,259	2,545	2,564	2,680	2,292	2,351	2,123
Turbine, total	N	589	1,574	3,207	3,300	3,700	3,848	3,631	2,875	3,101	3,967	4,063	4,527	4,881	4,884	4,470	4,491	4,297	4,403
Multiengine	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	629	616	733	643	764	843	839	694	884	686	853
One engine	N	589	N	N	N	N	N	N	2,246	2,485	3,234	3,420	3,762	4,038	4,045	3,776	3,607	3,611	3,550
Other Aircraft	809	1,554	2,832	4,945	5,800	6,600	8,051	8,000	5,037	5,906	4,741	4,244	4,092	5,580	6,765	6,700	6,545	6,377	6,008
Gliders	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	1,814	2,976	2,182	1,934	2,016	2,105	2,041	2,041	1,904	1,951	2,002
Lighter-than-Air	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	3,223	2,931	2,559	2,310	2,075	3,475	4,725	4,660	4,641	4,426	4,006
Experimental	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	10,426	12,144	15,176	16,625	14,680	16,502	20,528	20,407	20,421	21,936	20,550
Amateur Built	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	6,171	8,833	9,328	11,566	10,261	13,189	16,858	16,739	16,736	18,168	17,028
Exhibition	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	1,868	637	2,245	2,094	1,798	1,630	1,999	1,973	2,052	2,190	2,031
Other	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	2,387	2,674	3,603	2,965	2,620	1,684	1,671	1,694	1,633	1,578	1,491

KEY: N = data do not exist.

^aAir carrier aircraft are aircraft carrying passengers or cargo for hire under 14 CFR 121 (large aircraft-more than 30 seats) and 14 CFR 135 (small aircraft-30 seats or less). This definition is more encompassing than that in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aviation Forecast- jet aircraft, 60 seats or more carrying passengers or cargo for hire. Beginning in 1990, the number of aircraft is the monthly average reported in use for the last three months of the year. Prior to 1990, it was the number of aircraft reported in use during December of a given year.

^bColumns may not add to totals due to estimation procedures and rounding. Beginning in 1993, excludes commuters. Prior to 1993, single engine turboprops were included in "Other turboprops"; single and multiengine turbine rotorcraft were not shown separately; gliders and lighter-than-air aircraft were combined into the "Other" category; and experimental aircraft were included in the appropriate aircraft type. For example, prior to 1993, the single engine piston aircraft type included both experimental and nonexperimental aircraft Starting in 1993, that aircraft type only includes nonexperimental aircraft. Due to changes in methodology beginning in 1995, estimates may not be comparable to those for 1994 and earlier years. Values for 1991 through 1994 were revised to reflect changes in adjustment for nonresponse bias.

^c Total includes 574 turbine aircraft of unspecified subtype.

^d Multiengine.

^e Single-engine.

^f Source reported rounded data for general aviation.

NOTES

Prior to 1970, aircraft counts included aircraft retained in FAA data systems until the owners requested that they be deregistered. As a result, thousands of aircraft that had been destroyed over the years remained in the system. Since 1970, annual verification of aircraft registrations is required. Failure to comply with this requirement leads to revocation of the registration certificate and exclusion of the aircraft from the official count of the following year. Listed engine configurations (e.g., two-, three-, multi-) represent all applicable combinations for each aircraft type. Totals may not agree with those in other tables as revisions to prior year data are reported at the aggregate level only.

SOURCES

Air carriers:

1965: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, FAA Statistical Handbook of Aviation, 1966 Edition. (Washington, DC: 1966), table 7.5.

1970: Ibid., Calendar Year 1971. (Washington, DC: 1972), table 5.5.

1975: Ibid., Calendar Year 1975. (Washington, DC: Dec. 31, 1975), table 5.3.

1980: Ibid., Calendar Year 1980. (Washington, DC: Dec. 31, 1980), table 5.2.

1985: Ibid., Calendar Year 1993. FAA-APO-95-5 (Washington, DC: 1995), table 5.2.

1990-94: Ibid., Calendar Year 1996, Internet site: http://www.api.faa.gov/handbook96/toc96.htm, as of Mar. 31, 2000, table 5.2.

1995-2003: Aerospace Industries Association, Aerospace Facts and Figures (Washington DC: 2004/2005), "Active U.S. Air Carrier Fleet," and similar tables in earlier editions.

General aviation:

1965: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, FAA Statistical Handbook of Aviation, 1966 Edition. (Washington, DC: 1966), table 5.1.

1970: Ibid., Calendar Year 1971. (Washington, DC: 1972), table 8.3.

1975: Ibid., Calendar Year 1975. (Washington, DC: Dec. 31, 1975), table 8.4.

1980: Ibid., General Aviation Activity and Avionics Survey, Annual Report Calendar Year 1980, FAA-MS-81-5 (Washington, DC: December 1985), table 2-6.

1985: Ibid., Annual Summary Report 1994 Data, FAA-APO-95-10 (Washington, DC: 1996), table 1.2.

1990: Ibid., General Aviation and Air Taxi Activity Survey, Calendar Year 1999 (Washington, DC: 2001), table 1.2.

1991: Ibid., General Aviation and Air Taxi Activity Survey, Calendar Year 2002 (Washington, DC: 2004), table 1.2.

1992-2003: lbid., General Aviation and Air Taxi Activity Survey, Calendar Year 2003 (Washington, DC: 2005), table 1.2, Internet site http://www.faa.gov/data_statistics/aviation_data_statistics/general_aviation/ as of Nov. 14, 2005.