# How many airplanes are in the air at any given time?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-airplanes-are-in-the-air-at-any-given-time/316998>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 14, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-airplanes-are-in-the-air-at-any-given-time/316998 "2005-08-14T19:52:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-airplanes-are-in-the-air-at-any-given-time/316998/1 "2005-08-14T19:52:07Z")

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:dubious:

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**Author:** ![JimMacMillan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@JimMacMillan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimMacMillan)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-airplanes-are-in-the-air-at-any-given-time/316998/2 "2005-08-14T20:40:58Z")

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> [@alterego](#):
>
> :How many airplanes are in the air at any given time?

In the USA about 6,000. That includes private and commercial.

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**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-airplanes-are-in-the-air-at-any-given-time/316998/3 "2005-08-14T20:49:38Z")

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I have a related question. Whenever I am forced to have a discussion with somebody concerning the safety of commercial airline travel, I always say something along the lines of “I’ll bet that there are more people in the air in commercial airliners _right at this very instant_ than have ever been killed in commercial airline failures in the entire history of commercial aviation.” Is there any validity to this assertion? It would certainly seem so given the 6,000 figure (although I’m only talking about large passenger jets).

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**Author:** ![JimMacMillan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@JimMacMillan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimMacMillan)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-airplanes-are-in-the-air-at-any-given-time/316998/4 "2005-08-14T21:02:05Z")

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> [@Washoe](#):
>
> of "I’ll bet that there are more people in the air in commercial airliners _right at this very instant_ than have ever been killed in commercial airline failures in the en.

That would be interesting to find out. The 6,000 figure came from one of my flight school text books. I do know from [AOPA](http://www.aopa.org/) that private passenger airplane accident stats match those of motorcycle accidents.

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**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-airplanes-are-in-the-air-at-any-given-time/316998/5 "2005-08-15T01:44:24Z")

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[Here’s](http://www.flightexplorer.com/) an interesting graphic representation: Click on the link at the lower left that says “US Traffic.”