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Explained: What The Codes

Mean Behind Airbus And Boeing
Plane Names
Let's take a look at the meaning behind the
letter and number combinations signifying
variations of aircraft types.
BY CHRIS LOH UPDATED SEP 29, 2022

Photo: Tom Boon - Simple Flying

Commercial aircraft names and numerical

designations are something most aviation
enthusiasts will be familiar with. Indeed,
almost all of our readers will know the
di!erence between an Airbus A350 and
Airbus A380.

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It would probably be another safe statement

to say that those same readers will even
know the di!erence between a Boeing 737-
700 and a 737-800. But what about when it
gets a little more subtle, such as the
di!erence between a Boeing 737-824 and a
737-8CT? Let's see if we can try to decode at
least some of these extra numbers (and
letters) in the following article.
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Letters and numbers: An introduction

Since the beginning of human-engineered

flight, most aircraft have been designated
using a combination of letters and numbers.
Even famously named aircraft like the
DeHavilland Comet and Lockheed Electra
had alphanumeric designations DH 106 and
L-188, respectively.
Although descriptive names like Comet and
Electra are no longer featured in the naming
of modern commercial aircraft, they're still
present in many military aircraft. Think F/A-18
Hornet, F-22 Raptor, and F-35 Lightning. The
closest proper name in commercial aircraft
these days would probably be the 787
Dreamliner. However, it seems that is where
it ends.

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Turkish Airlines 787-9

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.
These days, the two big behemoth
planemakers, Airbus and Boeing, stick closely
to their own alphanumeric numbering
system. This consists of the following parts:

The aircraft model

The model variant (in terms of size)
Engine type
Any additional letters used for designating
other features

This article will examine today's most

popular commercial jets from Airbus and
Boeing. It is in no way completely exhaustive.
Instead, it is meant to provide a general
understanding of what each of the various
letters and numbers means within an
aircraft's name. Let's begin!
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A Boeing 757-2F8M operating for Nepal Airlines. Photo: Simon

Butler via Flickr

Boeing commercial aircraft families

Being the older of the two planemakers, let's

first start with Boeing aircraft. At the most
basic level, you'll probably know that the
company's commercial lineup takes a "7X7"
pattern: 707, 717, 727, and so on, until
reaching 787.

Without getting too much into the history of

Boeing's naming convention (there's another
article for that), it should be noted that
Boeing assigned the number 700 to jet
engines. The planemaker's first commercial
jetliner was to be named the "Boeing 700".
However, the marketing team at Boeing
thought that adding a "7" to the end just
sounded better, which is how the "Boeing
707" came to be just that.

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One exception to this that's worth

mentioning is the Boeing 720, which was a
shorter variant of the 707 used for operating
shorter routes and taking o! from shorter
runways.
American Airlines Boeing 707 jet on the apron

Photo: Getty Images

Boeing numbers "after the hyphen"

Since the 707, Boeing's naming convention

for commercial jets has held firm with its 7X7
pattern. Indicating the aircraft type, these
jets have always had an additional set of
letters and numbers added.

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For all Boeing commercial families, a hyphen
follows the model. Most often, up until
recent times, three digits have been added.
These three numbers represent the series
within the model. The series numbers tend
to indicate two general di!erentiators:
Aircraft size and aircraft generation.

The 737 family is the most interesting case

for designation variations as each generation
has had several series. The 737 family of
aircraft began with the -100 but has gone all
the way up to the -900. Here is how the
generations and series divide:

737 Original: -100 and -200. The -200 is a

lengthened version of the -100.
737 Classic: -300, -400, -500. The -400
was a stretch of the -300, but slightly
counterintuitively, the -500 is a shrunken
version of the -300.
737 Next Generation (NG): -600, -700,
-800, -900. The -600 was an update to
the short -500 and is the smallest of the
NG series. Unlike the numbering of the
Classic series, each ascending number
corresponds to a further stretch of the
737, with the -900 being the longest of
the NG aircraft.
737 MAX: The naming of this series of
737s took a departure from previous
generations, using single digits rather
than triple (just like the 787 family). For
MAX jets, the shortest in the family is the
MAX 7. The aircraft get longer with
ascending numbers: MAX 8, MAX 9, and
the longest being the MAX 10. At times
some carriers have dropped the word
MAX from the name. For example, while
Air Canada calls it the 737 MAX 8,
Singapore Airlines calls the same type of
aircraft a "737-8." One oddity is the 737
MAX 200, which is a high-density variant
of the MAX 8.

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Alaska-Airlines-(Orca-Livery)-Boeing-737-MAX-9-N932AK-(3)-1

After the -900 came the MAX. Photo: Vincenzo Pace - Simple
Flying

When looking at the most specific of model

numbers, it appears that Boeing has assigned
the very last two of the three digits as
identifiers for the original customer of the
aircraft (up until a certain point). For
example, 737-800s built for Delta are
designated the 737-832. Take a look below at
other 737-800s and their customers, and
how the last two numbers (or letters)
change:
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American Airlines: 737-823

Continental Airlines (now operated by
United): 737-824
Ryanair: 737-8AS
Southwest: 737-8H4
WestJet: 737-8CT

So, can you guess what airline operates a

Boeing 737-924?

It looks like Boeing decided to drop these

last distinctions for newer jets as they don't
seem to appear for 787 and 737 MAX aircraft.
But while the newest 747s are referred to as
747-8s, their "full names" do appear to have
three digits after the hyphen. Thus, Boeing
aircraft purpose-built for Korean Air all end
in B5. Their 737-900s are "737-9B5" while
their 747-8 passenger jets are "747-8B5"
(Lufthansa operates the 747-830).
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Korean Air Boeing 747-8B5 HL7632 (4) PACE

Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying

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Additional Boeing letters

Oftentimes, additional letters come at the

end of an aircraft's model and series. These
su"xes are another descriptor of the jet,
further distinguishing it from other aircraft of
the same type and size. Su"xes used for
Boeing aircraft include:

ER: Extended range

LR: Long-range
SR: Short-range
ERSF: Extended range, special freighter
BDSF: BEDEK Special freighter
SCD: Side cargo door
C: Convertible. This means the aircraft
can convert between a passenger aircraft
and freighter)
F: Freighter
M: Combi. These are aircraft with both
dedicated cargo sections and passenger
sections.
BCF: Boeing converter freighter
i (intentionally lowercase):
Intercontinental. Specifically applicable to
the 747-8, the 747-8i is simply the
passenger variant of Boeing's final 747
generation.
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First 737NG BCF

The first 737 BCF was converted at Boeing Shanghai Aviation

Services. Photo: Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services

Airbus commercial aircraft families

The website Travel and Leisure notes that

Airbus' first ever commercial passenger
aircraft was the A300. In this case, the A
stood for Airbus, and the 300 reflected the
aircraft's passenger capacity. Even though
Airbus realized that the aircraft would
perform better with just 260 passengers, it
ended up sticking with "300" rather than
A260. In this case, the aircraft was called the
A300B.

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Likely realizing that names based on

passenger capacity could get messy, the
planemaker held on to its A3XX and A3X0
pattern. This is why we have the A310, A320,
A330, A340, A350, and A380 families. Just
like over at competitor Boeing, these aircraft
families further divide into various models,
designated with a hyphen and three digits.

Using the single-generation A340 family, we

have the following variants, which get larger
in size as the variant number gets higher:

A340-200
A340-300
A340-500
A340-600

You can read about why an A340-400 doesn't

exist in this article.

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While the last two digits are often a pair of
zeros when identifying the aircraft, these last
two digits can get more specific.

Excluding the fourth digit "N su"x" for neo

aircraft (explained below), the last two
numbers of Airbus jets simply describe the
type of engine used on the aircraft. For
example, there are three engine variants for
the Airbus A380-800:

A380-841: Trent 970-84/970B-84

A380-842: Trent 972-84/972B-84
A380-861: Engine Alliance GP7270

Emirates (Expo 2020 - Mobility Livery) Airbus A380-861 A6-EOC (2)

The A380 has three di!erent designations according to engine

type. Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying
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The A320 family

It's di"cult to present rules and conventions

when the planemakers themselves break the
pattern every now and then. The A320 family
is another example of this.

While Boeing's narrowbody 737 family across

its multiple generations has its su"xes that
vary according to size, Airbus' A320 family
moves up and down in size with the last two
digits. Thus, the Airbus A318 is the smallest
member within the A320 family. Moving up is
the A319, then the A320, and finally, the A321
is the longest version.

All A318 and A319s were -100s. Meanwhile,

the A320 and A321 jets had both -100 and
-200 variants. The -100s had lower MTOWs
than their -200 counterparts, which were
heavier and had structural modifications to
handle increases in fuel capacity.

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Airbus has modernized both the A320 and

A330 families with "neo" versions- with the
three letters standing for "new engine
option." As a result, the older generation has
been referred to as ceos, or "current engine
options." Those who want to be more
technical may simply refer to the older ceo
variants with their three-digit su"xes (-100
or -200).
The neo designation gets further complicated
as the A320neo family uses a three-digit
su"x followed by an "N." If an aircraft code
ends with NX, then the aircraft has been
fitted with Airbus Cabin Flex to maximize
capacity (which also means the number of
emergency exits is di!erent.)

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LATAM Airlines first Airbus A320neo.

The new engine options get their own su"x. Photo: Airbus.

Additional Airbus letters

Just like Boeing, Airbus attaches additional

su"xes to further distinguish its aircraft
from other jets of the same type and size.
Here are some examples:

LR: Long-range
XLR: Extra-long range
ULR: Ultra-long range
F: Freighter
P2F: Passenger to freighter

It's a lot of information to absorb, and it can

certainly get confusing as there are so many
di!ering patterns and structures for each
aircraft family. Despite the chaos, we hope
this article has been able to shed a little bit
of light on the naming conventions of the
two big planemakers and their various jets.
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Was there anything missing in explaining the

various numbers and letters? Did you know
about all of these designators? Let us know
by leaving a comment.

Source: Travel and Leisure

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Related Topics
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About The Author

Chris Loh
Chris Loh
(2427 Articles Published)

Deputy Editor - An experienced photographer and video

producer, Chris is a journalistic natural. Degree educated…
with a wealth of traveling history, Chris’ insight into routes,
networks, and alliances brings a depth of quality to his

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