We know the Boeing 777-300ER as the B777-300ER, and the Airbus A321neo as A321neo, right? But when you read more about these planes serving a particular airline, you might come across names like B777-36NER, B777-3F6ER, A321-271NX, A321-251, A320-216, and so forth. In fact, someone once corrected me, saying “it’s Airbus A350-900, not A350-941,” where the latter refers to the specific aircraft type. So, for everyone’s information, here’s something about the codes behind the names of Airbus and Boeing planes.
Airbus
Airbus has a unique alphanumeric system for naming its aircraft, which began with the A300. The ‘A’ stands for Airbus, while the ‘300’ initially reflected the aircraft’s intended passenger capacity. Despite later realizing a better performance with 260 passengers, Airbus retained the ‘300’ designation, leading to the A300B.
Airbus continued with the A3XX and A3X0 pattern, resulting in the A310, A320, A330, A340, A350, and A380 families. Each family further divides into various models, designated with a hyphen and three digits, such as the A330-200, A330-300, A330-800, and A330-900. The last two digits typically represent zeros but can get more specific to indicate engine types. For instance, the A321-211 uses the CFMI CFM56-5B3/P engine, while the A321-231 uses the IAE V2533-A5 engine.
The A320 family, including the A318, A319, A320, and A321, illustrates Airbus’s departure from size-based naming, with the last two digits indicating the aircraft’s size within the family. The A318 is the smallest, while the A321 is the longest. Airbus has also introduced ‘neo’ (new engine option) versions of the A320 and A330 families, with older generations referred to as ‘ceos’ (current engine options). The ‘neo’ designation is further detailed with an ‘N’ suffix, and if an aircraft code ends with ‘NX,’ it features Airbus Cabin Flex for maximized capacity.
Airbus also uses additional suffixes to distinguish its aircraft, such as ‘LR’ for long-range, ‘XLR’ for extra-long range, ‘ULR’ for ultra-long range, ‘F’ for freighter, and ‘P2F’ for passenger to freighter conversions.
Boeing
Boeing, the American aerospace titan, has maintained a consistent 7X7 pattern for its commercial jets since the 707. Each model is followed by a hyphen and three digits, representing the series within the model. These series numbers indicate aircraft size and generation. For example, the 737 family has evolved from the Original (-100 and -200) to the Classic (-300, -400, -500), Next Generation (NG) (-600, -700, -800, -900), and MAX series (MAX 7, MAX 8, MAX 9, MAX 10).
Boeing’s model numbers often include identifiers for the original customer, such as the 737-832 for Delta. However, this practice seems to have been discontinued for newer jets like the 787 and 737 MAX. Additional letters at the end of a Boeing aircraft’s model and series further describe the jet, with suffixes like ‘ER’ for extended range, ‘LR’ for long-range, ‘SR’ for short-range, ‘F’ for freighter, and ‘i’ for intercontinental, as seen in the 747-8i.
It might be too much of an information overload if I give you the full list of specific names of Airbus and Boeing planes and their corresponding codes. But I hope this will help you determine a few differences between each aircraft and their respective airlines.
First love never dies. I fell in love with airplanes and aviation when I was a kid. My dream was to become a pilot, but destiny led me to another path: to be an aviation digital media content creator and a small business owner. My passion for aviation inspires me to bring you quality content through my website and social accounts. Aviation is indeed in my blood and blog!
