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92-524: The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy is a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft that is used for hauling outsize cargo components. It was the successor to the Pregnant Guppy , the first of the Guppy aircraft produced by Aero Spacelines . Five were built in two variants, both of which were colloquially referred to as the "Super Guppy". The Super Guppy is the only airplane to carry a complete S-IVB stage,

184-436: A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 F $ 9M in 1994, a B767 -300ERF $ 13M in 2007, a Boeing 747-400 PSF $ 22M in 2006, an A330 -300 P2F was estimated at $ 20M in 2016 and a Boeing 777 -200ER BCF at $ 40M in 2017. By avoiding the main deck door installation and relying on lighter elevators between decks, LCF Conversions wants to convert A330/ A340s or B777s for $ 6.5M to $ 7.5M. In the mid-2000s, passenger 747-400s cost $ 30–50 million before

276-633: A dorsal spine fuselage. Interconnecting 1.5–15.2-metre-long (5–50 ft) long aluminum containers carry the flight loads, aiming to lower overseas airfreight costs by 60%, and plan to convert C-130 H with the help of Wagner Aeronautical of San Diego, experienced in passenger-to-cargo conversions. Beijing-based Beihang UAS Technology developed its BZK-005 high-altitude, long-range UAV for cargo transport, capable of carrying 1.2 t (2,600 lb) over 1,200 km (650 nmi) at 5,000 m (16,000 ft). Garuda Indonesia will test three of them initially from September 2019, before operations in

368-475: A high-wing to allow the cargo area to sit near the ground, numerous wheels to allow it to land at unprepared locations, and a high-mounted tail to allow cargo to be driven directly into and off the aircraft. By 2015, dedicated freighters represent 43% of the 700 billion ATK (available tonne-kilometer) capacity, while 57% is carried in airliner's cargo holds . Also in 2015, Boeing forecast belly freight to rise to 63% while specialised cargoes would represent 37% of

460-616: A jet-powered 100-seat design at the request of Geoffrey de Havilland , involved in the first jet fighters development. After a brief contest, the Type I design was given to the Bristol Aeroplane Company , building on a "100 ton bomber " submission. This evolved into the Bristol Brabazon but this project folded in 1951 as BOAC lost interest and the first aircraft needed a costly wing re-design to accommodate

552-584: A $ 25 million conversion, a Boeing 757 had to cost $ 15 million before conversion, falling to below $ 10 million by 2018, and $ 5 million for a 737 Classic , falling to $ 2–3 million for a Boeing 737-400 by 2018. Derivative freighters have most of their development costs already amortized, and lead time before production is shorter than all new aircraft. Converted cargo aircraft use older technology; their direct operating costs are higher than what might be achieved with current technology. Since they have not been designed specifically for air cargo, loading and unloading

644-432: A 1,200 billion ATKs in 2035. The Cargo Facts Consulting firm forecasts that the global freighter fleet will rise from 1,782 to 2,920 cargo aircraft from 2019 to 2039. Aircraft were put to use carrying cargo in the form of air mail as early as 1911. Although the earliest aircraft were not designed primarily as cargo carriers, by the mid-1920s aircraft manufacturers were designing and building dedicated cargo aircraft. In

736-633: A Caravelle successor. The Super-Caravelle was a supersonic transport project of similar size and range to the Caravelle. It was merged with the similar Bristol Aeroplane Company project into the Anglo-French Concorde . The Concorde entered service in January 1967 as the second and last commercial supersonic transport , after large overruns and delays, costing £1.3 billion. All subsequent French airliner efforts were part of

828-623: A batch of nine. The Ford Trimotor had two engines mounted on the wings and one in the nose, and a slabsided body, it carried eight passengers and was produced from 1925 to 1933. It was an important early airliner in America. It was used by the predecessor to Trans World Airlines , and by other airlines long after production ceased. The Trimotor helped to popularise numerous aspects of modern aviation infrastructure, including paved runways , passenger terminals , hangars , airmail , and radio navigation . Pan Am opened up transoceanic service in

920-671: A common fuel type – kerosene-based jet fuel – is another advantage. Some variants of airliners have been developed for carrying freight or for luxury corporate use . Many airliners have also been modified for government use as VIP transports and for military functions such as airborne tankers (for example, the Vickers VC10 , Lockheed L-1011 , Boeing 707 ), air ambulance ( USAF / USN McDonnell Douglas DC-9 ), reconnaissance ( Embraer ERJ 145 , Saab 340 , and Boeing 737 ), as well as for troop-carrying roles. Modern jetliners are usually low-wing designs with two engines mounted underneath

1012-555: A few experimental or military designs, all aircraft built to date have had all of their weight lifted off the ground by airflow across the wings. In terms of aerodynamics , the fuselage has been a mere burden. NASA and Boeing are currently developing a blended wing body design in which the entire airframe, from wingtip to wingtip, contributes lift. This promises a significant gain in fuel efficiency . The major manufacturers with large aircraft airliners currently in production include: The narrow-body and wide-body airliner market

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1104-932: A growth by 3.5 from 2004 to 2020 is unprecedented and highly unusual for any mature market. In 2016, the deliveries went for 38% in Asia-Pacific, 25% in Europe, 22% in North America, 7% in Middle East, 6% in South America and 2% in Africa. 1,020 narrowbodies were delivered and their backlog reach 10891: 4,991 A320neo, 644 A320ceo; 3,593 737 Max, 835 737NG, 348 CSeries, 305 C919 and 175 MC-21; while 398 widebodies were delivered : 137 Dreamliners and 99 B777 for Boeing (65%) against 63 A330 and 49 A350 for Airbus, more than 2,400 widebodies were in backlog, led by

1196-515: A higher gross weight of 5,500 lb (2,500 kg). Later aircraft were amongst the first airliners to be fitted with flaps for improved landing performance, along with downwards-facing recognition light and metal propellers, which were often retrofitted to older aircraft. It was also used in military roles; civil Dragon Rapides were impressed into military service during the Second World War . Metal airliners came into service in

1288-443: A military aircraft would have to be rejected, because they are not suitable for a civil freighter. Moreover, each airplane would have to carry some weight which it would not carry if it were independently designed. This additional weight lessens the payload and the profitability of the commercial version. This could either be compensated by a transfer payment at acquisition, or an operating penalty compensation payment. Most important, it

1380-402: A month of tests, Super Guppy suffered fuselage collapse on September 25, 1965, when undergoing high speed dives during certification tests. After starting a dive at 10,000 feet the upper fuselage collapsed. The plane had been carrying 30,000 pounds of borate in 100-pound sacks, which were damaged and spilled powder that temporarily blinded the crew. With the help of a DC-9 chase plane , the crew

1472-444: A personnel stairway centered between the vehicle trackway ramps, that raised the rear of the aircraft into the air and allowed easy loading. A similar rear loading ramp even appeared in a somewhat different form on the nosewheel gear -equipped, late WW II era American Budd RB-1 Conestoga twin-engined cargo aircraft. Postwar Europe also served to play a major role in the development of the modern air cargo and air freight industry. It

1564-576: A profit if they had such an aircraft. To help resolve this disagreement, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) selected two contractors, Douglas Aircraft Co. and Lockheed-Georgia Co., to independently evaluate the possibility of producing such a freighter by 1990. This was done as part of the Cargo/Logistics Airlift Systems Study (CLASS). At comparable payloads, dedicated cargo aircraft

1656-1093: A survey by Inside MRO and Air Transport World , and this is a reason why Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation purchased the Bombardier CRJ program. It is an entry barrier for new entrants like the Xian MA700 and Comac C919 , with no credible previous experience with the MA60 , or the Irkut MC-21 after the Sukhoi Superjet 100 . The airliner fleet went from 13,500 in 2000 to 25,700 in 2017: 16% to 30.7% in Asia/Pacific (2,158 to 7,915), 34.7% to 23.6% in USA (4,686 to 6,069) and 24% to 20.5% in Europe (3,234 to 5,272). In 2018, there were 29,398 airliners in service: 26,935 passenger transports and 2,463 freighters, while 2,754 others were stored. The largest fleet

1748-400: Is dominated by Airbus and Boeing, and the regional airliner market is shared between ATR Aircraft , De Havilland Canada , and Embraer . Setting up a reliable customer support network, ensuring uptime, availability and support 24/7 and anywhere, is critical for the success of airliner manufacturers. Boeing and Airbus are ranked 1 and 2 in customer satisfaction for aftermarket support by

1840-756: Is during the Berlin Airlift at the height of the Cold War , when a massive mobilization of aircraft was undertaken by the West to supply West Berlin with food and supplies, in a virtual around the clock air bridge , after the Soviet Union closed and blockaded Berlin's land links to the west. To rapidly supply the needed numbers of aircraft, many older types, especially the Douglas C-47 Skytrain , were pressed into service. In operation it

1932-439: Is not clear that there will be an adequate market for the civil version or that it will be cost competitive with derivatives of passenger aircraft. Rapid delivery demand and e-commerce growth stimulate UAV freighters development for 2020: Carpinteria, California -startup Dorsal Aircraft wants to make light standard ISO containers part of its unpiloted freighter structure where the wing, engines and tail are attached to

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2024-481: Is not optimized; the aircraft may be pressurized more than necessary, and there may be unnecessary apparatus for passenger safety. A dedicated commercial air freighter is an airplane which has been designed from the beginning as a freighter, with no restrictions caused by either passenger or military requirements. Over the years, there has been a dispute concerning the cost effectiveness of such an airplane, with some cargo carriers stating that they could consistently earn

2116-634: The Airbus pan-European initiative. Soon after the war, most of the Soviet fleet of airliners consisted of DC-3s or Lisunov Li-2s . These planes were in desperate need of replacement, and in 1946, the Ilyushin Il-12 made its first flight. The Il-12 was very similar in design to American Convair 240, except was unpressurized. In 1953, the Ilyushin Il-14 made its first flight, and this version

2208-555: The Airbus A300 / A310 , A330 and A350 ; the 767 , 777 and 787 . Regional airliners seat fewer than 100 passengers. These smaller aircraft are often used to feed traffic at large airline hubs to larger aircraft operated by the major mainline carriers , legacy carriers , or flag carriers ; often sharing the same livery. Regional jets include the Bombardier CRJ100/200 and Bombardier CRJ700 series , or

2300-608: The Arado Ar 232 was the first purpose-built cargo aircraft. The Ar 232 was intended to supplant the earlier Junkers Ju 52 freighter conversions, but only a few were built. Most other forces used freighter versions of airliners in the cargo role as well, most notably the C-47 Skytrain version of the Douglas DC-3 , which served with practically every Allied nation. One important innovation for future cargo aircraft design

2392-699: The BAC 1-11 , Vickers VC10 , and Hawker Siddeley Trident . The STAC committee was formed to consider supersonic designs and worked with Bristol to create the Bristol 223 , a 100-passenger transatlantic airliner. The effort was later merged with similar efforts in France to create the Concorde supersonic airliner to share the cost. The first batch of the Douglas DC-4s went to the U.S. Army and Air Forces, and

2484-669: The Bleriot-SPAD S.33 was introduced during the early 1920s. It was commercially successful, initially serving the Paris- London route, and later on continental routes. The enclosed cabin could carry four passengers with an extra seat in the cockpit. It was further developed into the Blériot-SPAD S.46 . Throughout the 1920s, companies in Britain and France were at the forefront of the civil airliner industry. By 1921,

2576-949: The Boeing 707 and its competitor the Douglas DC-8 . They were followed by smaller models : the Douglas DC-9 and its MD-80 / MD-90 / Boeing 717 derivatives; the Boeing 727 , 737 and 757 using the 707 cabin cross-section; or the Tupolev Tu-154 , Ilyushin Il-18 , and the Ilyushin Il-62 . Currently produced narrow-body airliners include the Airbus A220 , A320 family , Boeing 737 , Embraer E-Jet family and Comac C919 , generally used for medium-haul flights with 100 to 240 passengers. They could be joined by

2668-715: The Boeing 737 -300/400/800, McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and Bombardier CRJ200 . Israel Aerospace Industries ’ Bedek Aviation converts the 737-300/400/700/800 in about 90 days, 767-200 /300s in about four months and 747-400s in five months, and is looking at the Boeing 777 , Airbus A330 and A321 . Voyageur Aviation located in North Bay, Ontario converts the DHC-8-100 into the DHC-8-100 Package Freighter Conversion. An A300B4 -200F conversion cost $ 5M in 1996, an A300 -600F $ 8M in 2001,

2760-576: The Bristol Proteus engine. The Type II was split between the de Havilland Dove and Airspeed Ambassador conventional piston designs, and the Vickers model powered by newly developed turboprops : first flown in 1948, the VC.2 Viceroy was the first turboprop design to enter service; a commercial success with 445 Viscounts built. The Type III requirement led to the conventional Avro Tudor and

2852-822: The Cessna Caravan and Pilatus PC-12 ; or twin piston-powered aircraft made by Cessna , Piper , Britten-Norman , and Beechcraft . They often lack lavatories , stand-up cabins, pressurization , galleys , overhead storage bins, reclining seats, or a flight attendant . Until the beginning of the Jet Age , piston engines were common on propliners such as the Douglas DC-3. Nearly all modern airliners are now powered by turbine engines, either turbofans or turboprops . Gas turbine engines operate efficiently at much higher altitudes, are more reliable than piston engines, and produce less vibration and noise. The use of

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2944-701: The Embraer ERJ family . Currently produced turboprop regional airliners include the Dash-8 series, and the ATR 42 / 72 . Light aircraft can be used as small commuter airliners, or as air taxis . Twin turboprops carrying up to 19 passengers include the Beechcraft 1900 , Fairchild Metro , Jetstream 31 , DHC-6 Twin Otter and Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante . Smaller airliners include the single-engined turboprops like

3036-771: The Fokker F.II , then the enlarged F.III . These were used by the Dutch airline KLM , including on its Amsterdam-London service in 1921. A relatively reliable aircraft for the era, the Fokkers were flying to destinations across Europe, including Bremen, Brussels, Hamburg, and Paris. The Handley Page company in Britain produced the Handley Page Type W , its first civil transport aircraft. It housed two crew in an open cockpit and 15 passengers in an enclosed cabin. Powered by two 450 hp (340 kW) Napier Lion engines,

3128-681: The RAF 's Iraq Command who flew nearly 500 Sikh troops from Kingarban to Kirkuk in the first ever strategic airlift of troops. Vickers Victorias played an important part in the Kabul Airlift of November 1928 – February 1929, when they evacuated diplomatic staff and their dependents together with members of the Afghan royal family endangered by a civil war . The Victorias also helped to pioneer air routes for Imperial Airways ' Handley Page HP.42 airliners. The World War II German design,

3220-649: The UK during the early 1920s, the need was recognized for a freighter aircraft to transport troops and material quickly to pacify tribal revolts in the newly occupied territories of the Middle East . The Vickers Vernon , a development of the Vickers Vimy Commercial , entered service with the Royal Air Force as the first dedicated troop transport in 1921. In February 1923 this was put to use by

3312-444: The swept wings , while turboprop aircraft are slow enough to use straight wings. Smaller airliners sometimes have their engines mounted on either side of the rear fuselage. Numerous advantages and disadvantages exist due to this arrangement. Perhaps the most important advantage to mounting the engines under the wings is that the total aircraft weight is more evenly distributed across the wingspan, which imposes less bending moment on

3404-628: The 1930s, the British de Havilland Dragon emerged as a short-haul, low-capacity airliner. Its relatively simple design could carry six passengers, each with 45 lb (20 kg) of luggage, on the London-Paris route on a fuel consumption of 13 gal (49 L) per hour. The DH.84 Dragon entered worldwide service. During early August 1934, one performed the first non-stop flight between the Canadian mainland and Britain in 30 hours 55 minutes, although

3496-482: The 1930s. In the United States, the Boeing 247 , and the 14-passenger Douglas DC-2 , flew during the first half of the decade, while the more powerful, faster, 21–32 passenger Douglas DC-3 first appeared in 1935. DC-3s were produced in quantity for the Second World War and were sold as surplus afterward, becoming widespread within the commercial sector. It was one of first airliners to be profitable without

3588-527: The 1960s, airliners had expanded capabilities, making a significant impact on global society, economics, and politics. During 1913, Igor Sikorsky developed the first large multi-engine airplane, the Russky Vityaz . This aircraft was subsequently refined into the more practical Ilya Muromets , being furnished with dual controls for a pilot and copilot and a comfortable cabin with a lavatory, cabin heating and lighting. This large four-engine biplane

3680-657: The A350 with 753 (31%) then the Boeing 787 with 694 (28%). The most important driver of orders is airline profitability , itself driven mainly by world GDP growth but also supply and demand balance and oil prices , while new programmes by Airbus and Boeing help to stimulate aircraft demand. In 2016, 38% of the 25 years old airliners had been retired, 50% of the 28 years old : there will be 523 aircraft reaching 25 years old in 2017, 1,127 in 2026 and 1,628 in 2041. Deliveries rose by 80% from 2004 to 2016, they represented 4.9% of

3772-628: The C-130 continues to improve at a rate that keeps it in production. "Strategic" cargo aircraft became an important class of their own starting with the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy in the 1960s and a number of similar Soviet designs from the 70s and 80s, and culminating in the Antonov An-225 , the world's largest aircraft. These designs offer the ability to carry the heaviest loads, even main battle tanks , at global ranges. The Boeing 747

Aero Spacelines Super Guppy - Misplaced Pages Continue

3864-569: The COVID-19 outbreak. It allows almost 320  m of cargo between the three decks. In November 2020 Emirates started offering an A380 mini-freighter, which allows for 50 tons of cargo in the belly of the plane. Cargo aircraft has had many uses throughout the years, but the current importance of cargo aircraft is not highly talked about. Cargo planes today can carry almost everything ranging from perishables and supplies to fully built cars and livestock. The most use of cargo aircraft comes from

3956-462: The Comet took off on the world's first jetliner flight carrying fare-paying passengers and simultaneously inaugurated scheduled service between London and Johannesburg. However, roughly one year after introduction, three Comets broke up mid-flight due to airframe metal fatigue , not well understood at the time. The Comet was grounded and tested to discover the cause, while rival manufacturers heeded

4048-582: The Goliath flew 12 passengers from Toussus-le-Noble to RAF Kenley , near Croydon , despite having no permission from the British authorities to land. Dozens of early airlines subsequently procured the type. One high-profile flight, made on 11 August 1919, involved an F.60 flying eight passengers and a ton of supplies from Paris via Casablanca and Mogador to Koufa, 180 km (110 mi) north of Saint-Louis, Senegal , flying more than 4,500 km (2,800 mi). Another important airliner built in 1919

4140-597: The Joyce Green airfield in Kent on 13 April 1919. The world's first all-metal transport aircraft was the Junkers F.13 , which also made its first flight in 1919. Junkers marketed the aircraft towards business travellers and commercial operators, and European entrepreneurs bought examples for their private use and business trips. Over 300 Junkers F 13s were built between 1919 and 1932. The Dutch Fokker company produced

4232-486: The Mediterranean area and to London . The Sud-Aviation Caravelle was developed during the late 1950s as the first short range jet airliner. The nose and cockpit layout were licensed from the de Havilland Comet , along with some fuselage elements. Entering service in mid 1959, 172 Caravelles had been sold within four years and six versions were in production by 1963. Sud Aviation then focused its design team on

4324-495: The SGT to transport more cargo than its predecessors. The SGT retained only the cockpit, wings, tail, and main landing gear of the 377 . The nose gear was taken from a Boeing 707 and rotated 180 degrees. This dropped the front of the aircraft slightly, levelling the cargo-bay floor and simplifying loading operations. In the early 1970s, two SGT aircraft were used by Airbus to transport airplane parts from production facilities to

4416-638: The US for military transport aircraft and the UK for heavy bombers . That such a policy was suggested or implemented have been disputed, at least by Sir Peter Masefield . British aircraft manufacturers were tied up to fulfill military requirements, and had no free capacity to address other matters though the war. The committee final report pushed four designs for the state-owned airlines British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and later British European Airways (BEA): three piston-powered aircraft of varying sizes, and

4508-558: The US's C-82 Packet featured a removable cargo area, while the C-123 Provider introduced the now-common rear fuselage/upswept tail shaping to allow for a much larger rear loading ramp. But it was the introduction of the turboprop that allowed the class to mature, and even one of its earliest examples, the C-130 Hercules , in the 21st century as the Lockheed Martin C-130J , is still the yardstick against which newer military transport aircraft designs are measured. Although larger, smaller and faster designs have been proposed for many years,

4600-409: The airplane and its direct operating cost (because of depreciation and insurance costs) and increases the financial risks to investors, especially since it would be competing with derivatives which have much smaller development costs per unit and which themselves have incorporated some of the cost-reducing technology. One benefit of a combined development is that the development costs would be shared by

4692-475: The capacity of airliners needed to be increased to achieve more favourable economics. The English company de Havilland , built the 10-passenger DH.29 monoplane, while starting work on the design of the DH.32, an eight-seater biplane with a more economical but less powerful Rolls-Royce Eagle engine. For more capacity, DH.32 development was replaced by the DH.34 biplane, accommodating 10 passengers. A commercially successful aircraft, Daimler Airway ordered

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4784-428: The cargo compartment was still only 8 ft 9 in (2.7 m) wide, as necessitated by the use of the Stratocruiser fuselage. In addition to the fuselage modifications, the Super Guppy used Pratt & Whitney T-34-P-7WA turboprop engines for increased power and range, and modified wing and tail surfaces. It could carry a load of 54,000 pounds (24,000 kg) and cruise at 300 mph (480 km/h). After

4876-510: The civil and military sectors, and the number of airplanes required by the military could be decreased by the number of civil reserve airplanes purchased by air carriers and available to the military in case of emergency. There are some possible drawbacks, as the restrictions executed by joint development, the punishments that would be suffered by both civil and military airplanes, and the difficulty in discovering an organizational structure that authorizes their compromise. Some features appropriate to

4968-399: The dedicated air freighter is that it can be designed specifically for air freight demand, providing the type of loading and unloading, flooring, fuselage configuration, and pressurization which are optimized for its mission. Moreover, it can make full use of NASA's ACEE results, with the potential of significantly lowering operating costs and fuel usage. Such a high overhead raises the price of

5060-467: The development of cargo aircraft. Many types can be converted from airliner to freighter by installing a main deck cargo door with its control systems; upgrading floor beams for cargo loads and replacing passenger equipment and furnishings with new linings, ceilings, lighting, floors, drains and smoke detectors . Specialized engineering teams rival Airbus and Boeing , giving the aircraft another 15–20 years of life. Aeronautical Engineers Inc converts

5152-473: The end of the First World War, large numbers of ex-military aircraft flooded the market. One such aircraft was the French Farman F.60 Goliath , which had originally been designed as a long-range heavy bomber ; a number were converted for commercial use into passenger airliners starting in 1919, being able to accommodate a maximum of 14 seated passengers. and around 60 were built. Initially, several publicity flights were made, including one on 8 February 1919, when

5244-422: The final assembly plant in Toulouse . In 1982 and 1983, two additional Super Guppy Turbines were built by Union de Transports Aériens Industries in France after Airbus bought the right to produce the aircraft. The four Super Guppies were later replaced in this role by the Airbus Beluga , capable of carrying twice as much cargo by weight. One Super Guppy remains in service with NASA. Three are on display, and one

5336-509: The first commercial plane to circumnavigate the globe during December 1941 and January 1942. In the United Kingdom, the Brabazon Committee was formed in 1942 under John Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara to forecast advances in aviation technology and the air transport needs of the postwar British Empire (in South Asia, Africa, and the Near and Far East ) and Commonwealth ( Australia , Canada , New Zealand ). For British use, multi-engine aircraft types were allegedly split between

5428-476: The first scheduled international airline service from London to Paris. One aircraft was sold to the River Plate Aviation Company in Argentina , to operate a cross-river service between Buenos Aires and Montevideo . Meanwhile, the competing Vickers converted its successful First World War era bomber, the Vickers Vimy , into a civilian version, the Vimy Commercial. It was redesigned with a larger-diameter fuselage (largely of spruce plywood), and first flew from

5520-602: The fleet at the end of 2012 and 11.3% at the end of 2001. Since it began, the jet airliner market had a recurring pattern of seven years of growth followed by three years of deliveries falling 30–40%, except a steady growth from 2004 due to the economic rise of China going from 3% of world market in 2001 to 22% in 2015, expensive jet fuel till 2014 stimulating old jets replacement allowed by low interest rates since 2008, and strong airline passenger demand since. In 2004, 718 Airbus and Boeings were delivered, worth $ 39.3 billion; 1,466 are expected in 2017, worth $ 104.4 billion:

5612-553: The fourth quarter. Garuda plans up to 100 cargo UAVs to connect remote regions with limited airports in Maluku , Papua , and Sulawesi . Airliner#Baggage holds An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo . Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines . The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft . The largest of them are wide-body jets which are also called twin-aisle because they generally have two separate aisles running from

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5704-467: The front to the back of the passenger cabin. These are usually used for long-haul flights between airline hubs and major cities. A smaller, more common class of airliners is the narrow-body or single-aisle. These are generally used for short to medium-distance flights with fewer passengers than their wide-body counterparts. Regional airliners typically seat fewer than 100 passengers and may be powered by turbofans or turboprops . These airliners are

5796-453: The in-development Irkut MC-21 . The larger wide-body aircraft , or twin-aisle as they have two separate aisles in the cabin, are used for long-haul flights. The first was the Boeing 747 quadjet, followed by the trijets: the Lockheed L-1011 and the Douglas DC-10 , then its MD-11 stretch. Then other quadjets were introduced: the Ilyushin Il-86 and Il-96 , the Airbus A340 and the double-deck A380 . Twinjets were also put into service:

5888-515: The increase in online shopping through retailers like Amazon and eBay. Since most of these items are made all over the world, air cargo is used to get it from point A to point B as fast as possible. Air cargo significantly adds to the world trade value, Air cargo transports over US$ 6 trillion worth of goods, accounting for approximately 35% of world trade by value. This helps producers keep the costs of goods down, allows consumers to be able to purchase more items, and allows stores to remain with goods on

5980-417: The intended destination had originally been Baghdad in Iraq . British production of the Dragon ended in favour of the de Havilland Dragon Rapide , a faster and more comfortable successor. By November 1934, series production of the Dragon Rapide had commenced. De Havilland invested into advanced features including elongated rear windows, cabin heating, thickened wing tips, and a strengthened airframe for

6072-507: The late 1920s and early 1930s, based on a series of large seaplanes – the Sikorsky S-38 through Sikorsky S-42 . By the 1930s, the airliner industry had matured and large consolidated national airlines were established with regular international services that spanned the globe, including Imperial Airways in Britain, Lufthansa in Germany, KLM in the Netherlands, and United Airlines in America. Multi-engined aircraft were now capable of transporting dozens of passengers in comfort. During

6164-402: The lessons learned while developing their own aircraft. The improved Comet 2 and the prototype Comet 3 culminated in the redesigned Comet 4 series which debuted in 1958 and had a productive career over 30 years, but sales never fully recovered. By the 1960s, the UK had lost the airliner market to the US due to the Comet disaster and a smaller domestic market, not regained by later designs like

6256-442: The more ambitious Bristol Britannia , although both aircraft suffered protracted developments, with the latter entering service with BOAC in February 1957, over seven years following its order. The jet-powered Type IV became the de Havilland Comet in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines buried in the wings, a pressurised fuselage, and large square windows. On 2 May 1952,

6348-529: The non- mainline counterparts to the larger aircraft operated by the major carriers, legacy carriers , and flag carriers , and are used to feed traffic into the large airline hubs. These regional routes then form the spokes of a hub-and-spoke air transport model. The lightest aircraft are short-haul regional feeder airliner type aircraft that carry a small number of passengers are called commuter aircraft, commuterliners, feederliners, and air taxis , depending on their size, engines, how they are marketed, region of

6440-414: The planes. American planes were allegedly more comfortable and had superior flight decks than those produced in Europe. In 1936, the French Air Ministry requested transatlantic flying boats that could hold at least 40 passengers, leading to three Latécoère 631s introduced by Air France in July 1947. However, two crashed and the third was removed from service over safety concerns. The SNCASE Languedoc

6532-416: The project was abandoned due to a lack of customer demand and its high development costs. Rival planes include the Martin 2-0-2 and Martin 4-0-4 , but the 2-0-2 had safety concerns and was unpressurized, while the 4-0-4 only sold around 100 units. During the postwar years, engines became much larger and more powerful, and safety features such as deicing, navigation, and weather information were added to

6624-605: The prototype first flew on 4 December 1919, shortly after it was displayed at the 1919 Paris Air Show at Le Bourget . It was ordered by the Belgian firm Sabena , a further ten Type Ws were produced under license in Belgium by SABCA . In 1921 the Air Ministry ordered three aircraft, built as the W.8b, for use by Handley Page Transport , and later by Imperial Airways , on services to Paris and Brussels . In France,

6716-509: The second largest payload capacity of any cargo aircraft, exceeded only by the An-225. An aerospace consultant has estimated that the A380F would have 7% better payload and better range than the 747-8F , but also higher trip costs. Starting May 2020 Portuguese Hi Fly started charting cargo flights with an A380, carrying medical supplies from China to different parts of the world in the response to

6808-515: The shelf.   Not only is air cargo important in the delivery and shipping aspect, it is also highly important in the job industry. Air cargo companies around the United States employ over 250,000 workers, U.S. cargo airlines employed 268,730 workers in August 2023, 34% of the industry total. Nearly all commercial cargo aircraft presently in the fleet are derivatives or transformations of passenger aircraft. However, there are three other methods to

6900-723: The support of postal or government subsidies. Long-haul flights were expanded during the 1930s as Pan American Airways and Imperial Airways competed on transatlantic travel using fleets of flying boats , such as the British Short Empire and the American Boeing 314 . Imperial Airways' order for 28 Empire flying boats was viewed by some as a bold gamble. At the time, flying boats were the only practical means of building aircraft of such size and weight as land-based aircraft would have unfeasibly poor field performance. One Boeing 314, registration NC18602 , became

6992-523: The third stage of the Saturn V rocket. It did so several times during the Apollo program . The first Super Guppy, or "SG", was built directly from a retired USAF Boeing YC-97J Stratofreighter . The fuselage was lengthened to 141 feet (43 m), and ballooned out to a maximum inside diameter of 25 ft (7.6 m), the length of the cargo compartment being 94 ft 6 in (28.8 m). The floor of

7084-433: The wings and allows for a lighter wing structure. This factor becomes more important as aircraft weight increases, and no in-production airliners have both a maximum takeoff weight more than 50 tons and engines mounted on the fuselage. The Antonov An-148 is the only in-production jetliner with high-mounted wings (usually seen in military transport aircraft ), which reduces the risk of damage from unpaved runways. Except for

7176-511: The world, and seating configurations. The Beechcraft 1900 , for example, has only 19 seats. When the Wright brothers made the world's first sustained heavier-than-air flight , they laid the foundation for what would become a major transport industry. Their flight, performed in the Wright Flyer during 1903, was just 11 years before what is often defined as the world's first airliner. By

7268-496: Was able to land on the dry bed of Rogers Dry Lake and save the aircraft . After that, Guppy's upper superstructure was redesigned and rebuilt at Edwards Air Force Base . The second version was officially known as the Super Guppy Turbine (SGT), although the first Super Guppy also used turboprop engines. However, this variant used Allison 501-D22C engines. Unlike the previous Guppy, the main portion of its fuselage

7360-622: Was based on the C-97 Stratofreighter military transport, it had a double deck and a pressurized fuselage. Convair produced the Convair 240 , a 40-person pressurized airplane; 566 examples flew. Convair later developed the Convair 340 , which was slightly larger and could accommodate between 44 and 52 passengers, of which 311 were produced. The firm also commenced work on the Convair 37 , a relatively large double-deck airliner that would have served trans continental routes; however,

7452-459: Was constructed from scratch. By building from scratch, Aero Spacelines was able to widen the floor of the cargo compartment to 13 ft (4 m). The overall cargo-compartment length was increased to 111 ft 6 in (34 m), and the improved fuselage and engines allowed for a maximum load of 52,500 lb (23,800 kg). These design improvements, combined with a pressurized crew cabin that allowed for higher-altitude cruising, allowed

7544-526: Was equipped with much more powerful engines. The main contribution that the Soviets made in regards to airliners was the Antonov An-2 . This plane is a biplane, unlike most of the other airliners, and sold more units than any other transport plane. The most common airliners are the narrow-body aircraft , or single-aisles. The earliest jet airliners were narrowbodies: the initial de Havilland Comet ,

7636-461: Was found that it took as long or longer to unload these older designs as the much larger tricycle landing gear Douglas C-54 Skymaster which was easier to move about in when landed. The C-47s were quickly removed from service, and from then on flat-decks were a requirement of all new cargo designs. In the years following the war era a number of new custom-built cargo aircraft were introduced, often including some "experimental" features. For instance,

7728-473: Was further adapted into an early bomber aircraft , preceding subsequent transport and bomber aircraft. It first flew on 10 December 1913 and took off for its first demonstration flight with 16 passengers aboard on 25 February 1914. However, it was never used as a commercial airliner due to the onset of the First World War which led to military applications being prioritised. In 1919, shortly after

7820-532: Was in Asia-Pacific with 8,808 (5% stored), followed by 8,572 in North America (10% stored), 7,254 in Europe (9% stored), 2,027 in Latin America, 1,510 in Middle East and 1,347 in Africa. Narrowbody are dominant with 16,235, followed by 5,581 Widebodies, 3,743 Turboprops, 3,565 Regional jets and 399 Others. By the end of 2018, there were 1,826 parked or in storage jetliners out of 29,824 in service (6.1%): 1,434 narrowbodies and 392 widebodies, down from 9.8% of

7912-519: Was introduced in 1939, with the fifth and sixth prototypes of the Junkers Ju 90 four-engined military transport aircraft, with the earliest known example of a rear loading ramp. This aircraft, like most of its era, used tail-dragger landing gear which caused the aircraft to have a decided rearward tilt when landed. These aircraft introduced the Trapoklappe , a powerful ramp/hydraulic lift with

8004-660: Was named the C-54 Skymaster . Some ex-military DC-6s were later converted into airliners, with both passenger and cargo versions flooding the market shortly after the war's end. Douglas also developed a pressurized version of the DC-4, which it designated the Douglas DC-6 . Rival company Lockheed produced the Constellation , a triple-tailed aircraft with a wider fuselage than the DC-4. The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser

8096-537: Was originally designed to the same specification as the C-5, but later modified as a design that could be offered as either passenger or all-freight versions. The "bump" on the top of the fuselage allows the crew area to be clear of the cargo containers sliding out of the front in the event of an accident. When the Airbus A380 was announced, the maker originally accepted orders for the freighter version A380F, offering

8188-444: Was said to provide a 20 percent reduction in trip cost and a 15 percent decrease in aircraft price compared to other cargo aircraft. These findings, however, are extremely sensitive to assumptions about fuel and labor costs and, most particularly, to growth in demand for air cargo services. Further, it ignores the competitive situation brought about by the lower capital costs of future derivative air cargo aircraft. The main advantage of

8280-411: Was scrapped. Data from Encyclopedia of The World's Commercial and Private Aircraft, NASA.gov General characteristics Performance Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Cargo aircraft Aircraft designed for cargo flight usually have features that distinguish them from conventional passenger aircraft: a wide/tall fuselage cross-section,

8372-480: Was the Airco DH.16 ; a redesigned Airco DH.9A with a wider fuselage to accommodate an enclosed cabin seating four passengers, plus pilot in an open cockpit. In March 1919, the prototype first flew at Hendon Aerodrome . Nine aircraft were built, all but one being delivered to the nascent airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel , which used the first aircraft for pleasure flying, and on 25 August 1919, it inaugurated

8464-508: Was the first French post-war airliner. Accommodating up to 44 seats, 40 aircraft were completed for Air France between October 1945 and April 1948. Air France withdrew the last Languedoc from its domestic routes in 1954, being replaced by later designs. First flying in February 1949, the four-engined Breguet Deux-Ponts was a double-decker transport for passengers and cargo. Air France used it on its busiest routes, including from Paris to

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