Chuffy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 14282 times:
Hello my learned friends.
While flying from Budapest on Monday there was a moment when, including us, there were five planes visible from my window. This made me wonder how many passengers/airliners are in flight, globally, at any one time.
My formula would be to take the top ten airports / 60 take offs per hour / average 200 pax on board. This would give a figure of 600 aircraft and 120,000 passengers in the sky at any one time.
NKMCO From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 96 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 14250 times:
Well, if you go to http://flightaware.com/ they were tracking 4939 flights at 10:05 am. This in only what FAA (US) tracks. If you take a very conservative average of 100 pax per plane that would take it to about half a million in the US only.
LH492 From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 208 posts, RR: 12 Reply 2, posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 14184 times:
I once heard that every moment 50.000 planes are in the air, all over the globe.
It was on a documentary about Air Traffic and the dangers that come with high dnesity routes.
I do not know if this number is reliable because one should never trust the media when it come to aviation since they get a lot of things wrong.
Bond007 From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 5098 posts, RR: 8 Reply 3, posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 14166 times:
Quoting LH492 (Reply 2): I once heard that every moment 50.000 planes are in the air, all over the globe.
Since the US has around 5,000 in the air at peak times, it is unlikely that is just 10% of the total global amount. Also, because of the time difference, the peak times in Asia will not coincide with the peak US/European times.
I'm sure this has been discussed before, but 50,000 seems far too high.
Jimbo
I'd rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air, than in the air wishing I was on the ground!
Bond007 From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 5098 posts, RR: 8 Reply 5, posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 14082 times:
Quoting Lordanmol (Reply 4): 'at any given time there are 700 737 in the sky'
A lot more that, just in the USA right now there are 880 B737's .... 36% of 'em SWA.
It's actually the most common aircraft in terms of number of flights in the USA.
Jimbo
I'd rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air, than in the air wishing I was on the ground!
Echster From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 396 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 13941 times:
Last year in the US alone, the FAA said just over 700 million people flew commercial airlines. This equates to approximately 1.9+ million pax a day. How many aircraft is that? That's a lot of aircraft! It also does not include GA, VFR, or military flights.
Bond007 From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 5098 posts, RR: 8 Reply 7, posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 13876 times:
Quoting Echster (Reply 6): Last year in the US alone, the FAA said just over 700 million people flew commercial airlines. This equates to approximately 1.9+ million pax a day. How many aircraft is that? That's a lot of aircraft! It also does not include GA, VFR, or military flights.
Well, for the US, we pretty much know the figures. To answer your question - there are around 50,000 flights/day at most in the USA.
But the question was:
Quoting Chuffy (Thread starter): how many passengers/airliners are in flight, globally, at any one time.
Jimbo
I'd rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air, than in the air wishing I was on the ground!
RDUDDJI From Lesotho, joined Jun 2004, 1314 posts, RR: 3 Reply 8, posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 13835 times:
Quoting Bond007 (Reply 3): Since the US has around 5,000 in the air at peak times, it is unlikely that is just 10% of the total global amount. Also, because of the time difference, the peak times in Asia will not coincide with the peak US/European times.
I've seen as high as 6,200 routes at once (including part 121, 135 and other IFR GA traffic) as recently as last summer. It's cool to watch a time-lapse of the flow on your favorite ASD (Aircraft Situation Display) program over a 24-hour period. Someone once posted a time-lapse video file of FedEx's operations in the US over a 24-hour period...I wish I still had the file.
Sometimes we don't realize the good times when we're in them
StealthZ From Australia, joined Feb 2005, 5431 posts, RR: 49 Reply 10, posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 13768 times:
Quoting LMML 14/32 (Reply 9): At any given time there are 1100 airplanes, all widebodies, crossing the Atlantic.
I don't have the data to openly dispute this figure but to my mind that seems high.
Quoting LH492 (Reply 2): I once heard that every moment 50.000 planes are in the air, all over the globe.
That number seems pretty high.. if it is only Airliners it would be way high!
Some figures that may help figure out the answers.. in 2004 there were approx 47,950 departures per day, as at 31Dec 2004 there were 19,077 aircraft to perform those flights.
Note those figures are for Certified Jet aircraft greater than 60,000lbs and excludes Military aircraft and aircraft from the CIS.
Data is from 'Statistical Summary of Commericial Jet Airplane Accidents, Worldwide Summary, 1959-2004' published by Boeing Commercial Airplanes
[Edited 2006-04-07 10:29:10]
If your camera sends text messages, that could explain why your photos are rubbish!
CPH757 From Denmark, joined Sep 2005, 684 posts, RR: 2 Reply 11, posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 13735 times:
Quoting LH492 (Reply 2): I once heard that every moment 50.000 planes are in the air, all over the globe.
It was on a documentary about Air Traffic and the dangers that come with high dnesity routes.
I do not know if this number is reliable because one should never trust the media when it come to aviation since they get a lot of things wrong.
I saw a program on the same subject two days ago. They actually mentioned 15000, not 50000
In the US alone, the usually hit 6000 aircrafts in peak hour according to that show.
Last flight: SAW-CPH on H9 on 02/11/09 - Next Flights: 23/12/09 CPH-AAL on QI, 30/12/09 CPH-LHR on SK, 19/01/10 CPH-CDG-
Bond007 From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 5098 posts, RR: 8 Reply 12, posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 5 hours ago) and read 13670 times:
Quoting RDUDDJI (Reply 8): I've seen as high as 6,200 routes at once (including part 121, 135 and other IFR GA traffic) as recently as last summer.
Right, my '5,000' was a round estimate of airliners.
Quoting StealthZ (Reply 10): in 2004 there were approx 47,950 departures per day,
In the US alone, there are that many departures a day.
Quoting CPH757 (Reply 11): They actually mentioned 15000, not 50000
That's a more realistic amount.
Jimbo
I'd rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air, than in the air wishing I was on the ground!
Bond007 From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 5098 posts, RR: 8 Reply 14, posted (7 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 13555 times:
Quoting StealthZ (Reply 13): Don't forget these numbers eliminate many Regional jets
Ah! In which case might explain the numbers
Jimbo
I'd rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air, than in the air wishing I was on the ground!
Echster From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 396 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 13440 times:
From the NATCA website:
On any given day, more than 87,000 flights are in the skies in the United States. Only 35 percent, or just over 30,000 of those flights are commercial carriers. On an average day, air traffic controllers handle 28,537 commercial flights (major and regional airlines), 27,178 general aviation flights (private planes), 24,548 air taxi flights (planes for hire), 5,260 military flights and 2,148 air cargo flights (Federal Express, UPS, etc.). At any given moment, roughly 5,000 planes are in the skies above the United States. In one year, controllers handle an average of 64 million takeoffs and landings.
For every one flight you see listed on an airport monitor, two you don't see show up on air traffic controllers' screens. It would take approximately 7,300 airport terminal monitors to show all the flights controllers handle in a single day and approximately 460 monitors to show the number of flights being handled at any one time.
Chuffy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 16, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 13373 times:
Quoting Echster (Reply 15): On any given day, more than 87,000 flights are in the skies in the United States. Only 35 percent, or just over 30,000 of those flights are commercial carriers. On an average day, air traffic controllers handle 28,537 commercial flights (major and regional airlines), 27,178 general aviation flights (private planes), 24,548 air taxi flights (planes for hire), 5,260 military flights and 2,148 air cargo flights (Federal Express, UPS, etc.). At any given moment, roughly 5,000 planes are in the skies above the United States. In one year, controllers handle an average of 64 million takeoffs and landings.
For every one flight you see listed on an airport monitor, two you don't see show up on air traffic controllers' screens. It would take approximately 7,300 airport terminal monitors to show all the flights controllers handle in a single day and approximately 460 monitors to show the number of flights being handled at any one time.
I think this is as close as we get to the difinitive solution. What weighting you would put on the US for a global figure ?
Bond007 From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 5098 posts, RR: 8 Reply 17, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 13360 times:
Quoting Chuffy (Reply 16): I think this is as close as we get to the difinitive solution.
Well, we had this data from the first replies actually.
The only figure that matters is the 5,000 in the air in the USA at one time.
..but yes, if you know what proportion of worldwide traffic this is ...you have the answer.
As mentioned earlier, somewhere in the area of 15,000 sounds possible.
Jimbo
I'd rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air, than in the air wishing I was on the ground!
Fewsolarge From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 409 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 13263 times:
One guy did a fine job on a set of visualizations of North American air traffic. You'll need QuickTime to see it:
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