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

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

(Number of carriers)

	1965	1970	1975	1980	1985	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
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	8,049	8,497	8,194	8,176	8,186	8,225	8,089	8,044	7,856	U
Fixed Wing, total	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	8,010	8,370	8,161	8,144	8,150	8,182	8,042	7,998	7,808	U
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	6,691	6,839	6,784	6,784	6,670	U
Four engine	511	931	602	436	322	432	410	389	410	420	435	440	450	447	441	432	419	365	337	305	310	272	263	237	U
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	519	540	523	416	373	U
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	5,867	5,989	5,989	6,105	6,060	U
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	1,469	1,494	1,250	1,123	989	889	803	761	701	U
Four engine	215	110	68	92	108	88	75	107	102	87	81	56	45	39	28	29	24	17	16	17	7	7	7	7	U
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	968	880	791	750	685	U
One engine	8	5	U	U	U	U	U	U	15	0	0	5	5	4	1	0	0	0	0	4	2	5	4	9	U
Piston, total	1,067	153	114	595	436	329	283	847	721	824	748	739	728	751	688	585	580	528	498	470	454	455	453	437	U
Four engine	447	34	37	73	38	31	26	20	22	19	15	18	19	17	19	17	16	12	13	20	20	18	18	18	U
Three engine	590	110	69	U	4	6	5	5	0	5	1	7	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	14	15	14	U
Two engine	30	9	8	522	394	292	252	415	293	335	333	317	298	391	292	255	173	154	143	125	126	184	181	176	U
One engine	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	407	406	465	399	397	407	340	374	310	388	359	339	323	306	239	239	229	U
Helicopter	21	16	7	2	5	11	6	133	124	128	118	121	134	117	122	39	127	33	32	36	43	47	46	48	U
GENERAL AVIATION (GENERAL FLEET)^b,f	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	219,426	224,352	221,943	231,607	228,663	223,877
Fixed Wing, total^c	93,130	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	182,867	185,373	182,186	186,806	182,961	177,446
Turbojet, total	U	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	9,298	9,823	10,379	10,385	11,042	11,268
Two engine^d	U	822	1,742	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	8,649	9,097	10,379	U	U	U
Other^e	U	128	34	441	50	400	263	266	237	262	488	347	539	552	733	786	831	701	532	650	727	U	U	U	U
Turboprop, total	U	1,458	2,519	4,089	5,000	5,300	4,941	4,786	(R) 4,117	(R) 4,093	4,995	5,716	(R) 5,618	6,174	(R) 5,680	(R) 5,763	6,596	6,841	7,689	(R) 8,380	7,942	8,063	(R) 9,515	8,906	9,054
Two engine^d	U	1,287	2,486	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	5,858	5,307	5,487	5,456	5,456	5,096
One engine	U	138	33	U	U	U	U	U	650	481	668	719	650	1,033	1,018	678	915	1,108	1,821	2,468	2,595	2,576	4,059	3,450	3,958
Other	U	33	U	123	100	400	526	599	24	7	32	80	29	65	21	45	38	30	78	54	40	U	U	U	U
Piston, total	92,556	125,526	157,275	193,013	175,600	175,200	173,518	(R) 162,880	149,156	142,152	152,788	153,551	(R) 156,055	162,963	(R) 171,924	170,513	(R) 163,315	161,087	160,938	165,189	167,608	(R) 163,744	(R) 166,906	(R) 163,012	157,123
Two engine^d	11,422	15,835	20,331	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	18,469	19,412	18,708	19,337	17,515	16,474
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	146,613	148,101	145,036	147,569	145,497	140,649
Other	U	199	U	212	100	100	131	77	14	51	33	68	79	70	108	140	89	101	182	107	95	U	U	U	U
Rotorcraft, total	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	7,821	8,728	9,159	9,567	9,876	9,984
Piston	U	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	2,315	3,039	3,264	2,769	3,498	3,499
Turbine, total	U	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	5,506	5,689	5,895	6,798	6,378	6,485
Multiengine	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	629	616	733	643	764	843	839	694	884	686	853	1,130	1,151	1,268	1,367	1,371	1,520
One engine	U	589	U	U	U	U	U	U	2,246	2,485	3,234	3,420	3,762	4,038	4,045	3,776	3,607	3,611	3,550	4,376	4,537	4,627	5,431	5,007	4,965
Other Aircraft, total	809	1,554	2,832	4,945	5,800	6,600	8,051	8,000	5,037	(R) 5,907	4,741	4,244	(R) 4,091	5,580	(R) 6,766	(R) 6,701	6,545	6,377	6,008	5,939	6,454	(R) 6,278	5,940	5,652	5,480
Gliders	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	1,814	2,976	2,182	1,934	2,016	2,105	2,041	2,041	1,904	1,951	2,002	2,116	2,074	1,975	1,947	1,914	1,808
Lighter-than-Air	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	3,223	2,931	2,559	2,310	2,075	3,475	4,725	4,660	4,641	4,426	4,006	3,823	4,380	4,303	3,993	3,738	3,672
Experimental, total	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	10,426	12,144	15,176	16,625	14,680	16,502	20,528	20,407	20,421	21,936	20,550	22,800	23,627	23,047	23,228	23,364	24,419
Amateur Built	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	6,171	8,833	9,328	11,566	10,261	13,189	16,858	16,739	16,736	18,168	17,028	19,165	19,817	19,316	19,538	(R) 19,767	20,794
Exhibition	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	1,868	637	2,245	2,094	1,798	1,630	1,999	1,973	2,052	2,190	2,031	2,070	2,120	2,103	2,101	2,096	2,063
Other	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	U	2,387	2,674	3,603	2,965	2,620	1,684	1,671	1,694	1,633	1,578	1,491	1,565	1,691	1,629	1,589	1,501	1,562

KEY: U = data are unavailable.

^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.

^bDetails 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 Turboprop, Other; 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 Piston, One engine 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.

^c For 1965, total includes 574 turbine aircraft of unspecified subtype.

^d For 1965-1975 this category includes multiengine aircraft.

^e For 1975, this category includes single-engine aircraft.

^f Source reported rounded data for general aviation for 1985 and 1990.

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, available at http://www.api.faa.gov/handbook96/toc96.htm as of Mar. 31, 2000, table 5.2.

1995-2008: Aerospace Industries Association, Aerospace Facts and Figures (Washington DC: Annual Issues), "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.

1992-2009: lbid., General Aviation and Air Taxi Activity Survey, Calendar Year 2009 (Washington, DC: 2010), table 1.2, available at http://www.faa.gov/data_statistics/aviation_data_statistics/general_aviation/ as of Sept. 8, 2011.