How Much Does a Commercial Plane Cost?

A commercial plane is a large and fast aircraft that carries passengers or cargo between different destinations all over the globe.

They can get expensive. But just how much does a commercial plane cost?

You’ve probably flown in a commercial plane before. Whether that was jetting off on vacation or traveling for business, it’s likely that you flew on a small or large commercial airplane.

Given the size of these planes and the level of technology that goes into them, you may well have wondered how expensive are these commercial airplanes and how much they cost.

The list price cost of new Boeing commercial airplanes ranges from US$89.1 million for a 737-700 to US$442.2 million for a 777-9. For Airbus, the list price cost ranges from US$77.4 million for an A318 and US$445.6 for an A380.

Commerce and industry would be very different without these large commercial airplanes. Given the size of these giants, you’re probably unsure about the exact cost of commercial planes and what type of customers actually buys them.

PilotPassion aims to bring you the most interesting and relevant aviation content. We are aviation enthusiasts and student private pilots.

When creating this information, we put ourselves into your position. We hope our content saves you time and energy while searching for the most accurate information regarding how much commercial planes cost, who buys them, and can any company or private person buy them.

How Much Does A Commercial Airplane Cost?

Commercial planes are incredibly expensive. They’re definitely going to be out of reach for the vast majority of private pilots and aviation enthusiasts.

Only large airlines, large organizations, or extremely rich individuals (like entrepreneurs or royalty) are likely to be able to afford to buy commercial airplanes.

This is because these aircraft are so massive and technologically advanced that they’re ideally suited to carrying hundreds of passengers and/or many tons of commercial cargo.

Large companies that need to transport cargo purchase these large commercial aircraft for that reason.

These large companies can justify the cost of acquiring commercial planes because that is their business model, and they usually make a return on their investment.

How much do the most popular commercial planes cost? Let’s find out!

There is a large range of pricing for commercial airplanes. This is because the size range also varies hugely.

As you can see from the table above, it’s possible to acquire a new Bombardier CRJ200 commercial airplane for about $21 million USD.

You can pay hundreds of millions of dollars for a Boeing 747.

All of these aircraft can also be purchased new for a much lower cost.

By comparison, the cost of a private jet is much lower than a commercial plane.

The Boeing 737 range and the Airbus A320 range are among the most popular, and these two classes of commercial aircraft are often placed beside each other in comparison tables.

Which Aircraft Manufacturers are more expensive – Airbus or Boeing?

Airbus and Boeing price their commercial planes within the same range, very similar to each other. Airbus is usually slightly more expensive than Boeing, but not by much.

For example, the Airbus A321 costs $114.9M and the Boeing 737-900ER costs $112.6M. While a $2.3M price difference might sound like a lot to you and me, it is only a small difference when we’re talking about pricing at this level.

Keep in mind that list prices are often just guide prices. An airline buying a large number of aircraft in bulk will often receive significant discounts off the guide prices.

The commercial aircraft industry is highly competitive on price.

When comparing the cost of similar commercial airplanes between different manufacturers, the number of passenger seats will be an important factor (not the only factor) to compare.

Can Individual People Purchase a Commercial Airplane?

If you have millions of dollars available to spend, then yes, individual people can purchase commercial airplanes.

In fact, many rich people do own their own commercial airplanes.

As we have seen so far in this article, commercial planes cost many millions of dollars.

So why would people want to purchase such large commercial planes when a smaller, more affordable small commercial plane would be cheaper?

The answer often comes down to their individual needs. Some rich people might purchase these large aircraft simply because they can! Or, in many cases, they purchase large planes because they need to transport their entire entourage of people whenever or wherever they travel.

Not only is there a high sticker price on these commercial planes when purchasing new, but new owners would also need to pay for a flight crew and expensive routine maintenance, and other variable costs such as fuel.

If you’re a billionaire, costs like this probably won’t be a problem.

However, most millionaires would struggle with the costs of running a commercial airplane. We’ve written a comprehensive guide to airline operating expenses in our article about the cost to fly a commercial plane.

For millionaires, they would get more value out of simply purchasing a much smaller private jet.

It is mostly airlines, governments, and the extremely rich (billionaires), that purchase commercial planes.

Who Purchases The Most Commercial Planes?

Airlines purchase the most commercial airplanes in the United States.

As of 2020, here is the current fleet size of commercial airplanes owned by the airlines.

Some of these large airlines could easily spend billions of dollars on commercial planes each year. That’s a staggering amount of money!

They also sell and trade their older aircraft each year. Often, lower-tier commercial airlines or cargo transport companies would acquire these aircraft.

The largest producers of commercial airplanes globally are Airbus and Boeing.

The air transport industry does not show any signs of slowing down. In fact, it is growing each year.

Can You Create Your Own Commercial Airline?

Yes, it is possible for you to create your own commercial airline.

However, before you begin, you’d need to be aware of the very high costs of entering this market.

Not only is it a very expensive industry to operate in, but you’d also need to comply with very strict legal and regulatory frameworks.

You’d also need to comply with many international health and safety laws.

So, commercial airlines cost a lot of money. So between that and ensuring the safety of passengers, it’s no wonder why airline pilots can command high salaries.