Estimating the number of commercial airliners a company has produced is complex and complicated. The industry is characterized by mergers and changing environments (like Airbus buying the CSeries). For example, Douglas and then McDonnell Douglas was one of the greatest aircraft makers, but it was merged with Boeing in 1997, and Boeing now includes the production of its former rival in its own.

Airbus is younger than Boeing, but it also did not emerge from a vacuum, as it is the result of many mergers. This list may count aircraft produced twice, as it lists both Boeing’s claimed numbers (including McDonnell Douglas) and McDonnell Douglas before the merger. Here is what to know about the companies that produced the most commercial jet-powered aircraft.

Fokker

Around 570 commercial jets have been built

The iconic Dutch company, Fokker, produced around 570 commercial jets. These include the Fokker F28 Fellowship (241 built), the Fokker 70 (47 built), and the Fokker 100 (around 280 built). Fokker fell into bankruptcy and went out of business in 1996. Other aircraft manufacturers that fail to make this list include Convair (which comes close with 413 jets built) and Lockheed (with 250 jets delivered). These aircraft include the Convair 880, Convair 990 Coronado, and the L-1011 TriStar.

Another challenger for the eighth spot is Ilyushin. Ilyushin was one of the major commercial aircraft manufacturers of the Soviet Union. Ilyushin built around 292 Il-62 four-engined narrowbody long-range airliners, 106 Il-86 four-engined widebody long-range airliners, and 34 Il-96 widebody aircraft. This brings the production total to around 432 commercial passenger aircraft. Ilyushin also made the Il-76 strategic airlifter (over 1,000 built), but that is mostly a military aircraft.

While the transport does have the Il-76PS salon passenger conversion variant, it is excluded from the tally. Separately, with Russia now sanctioned, Ilyushin is trying to put the Il-114 regional turboprop aircraft back into production, but as a turboprop, it doesn’t qualify for this list. In the United States, Lockheed developed the massive C-5 Galaxy for the US Air Force. Lockheed wanted to develop the military transport into a commercial passenger airliner, but was never successful, being outcompeted by the Boeing 747.

British Aerospace/de Havilland/Hawker Siddeley

Around 805 BAe-lineage jets were delivered

British Aerospace (BAe) and its predecessors, de Havilland, Hawker Siddeley, and BAC, produced some notable earlier airliners. Additionally, the lineage has one of the most complicated lineages of any jet-airliner manufacturer. While the United Kingdom no longer produces complete commercial passenger jets, it has one of the largest aerospace industries in the world. British DNA can be found in most commercial aircraft and Western military aircraft flying today.

Overall, it is estimated that the lineage built around 805 commercial jets. This includes 114 de Havillant Comets (the world’s first commercial jet airliner), 127 Hawker Siddeley Tridents, 387 BAe / Avro RJs, and 244 British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) One-Elevens. Another 54 were built under license in Romania; if these are added, the total would increase to 862.

The Hawker Siddeley Trident was a competitor to the Boeing 727, while the BAe / Avro RJ was regarded as one of the most successful British commercial jets. Today, the successor to British Aerospace is BAE Systems, one of the world’s largest aerospace and defense companies. However, it does not produce commercial passenger aircraft.

Bombardier

Around 1,950 commercial jets were produced

Bombardier is a cautionary tale for airplane makers when it comes to developing new jets. The development of a new jet is exceptionally expensive and risky. Bombardier developed the CSeries regional jet, but the cost sank the company, and it was forced to sell it off to Airbus as the A220.

Bombardier then exited the commercial passenger industry entirely to focus on its business jets. Even so, Bombardier earns the sixth spot on this list thanks to the CRJ family, of which it delivered around 1,945 aircraft. It also delivered five CSeries; the other 455 or so aircraft have been delivered by Airbus as the A220.

The CRJ program was acquired by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2020. Bombardier continued to complete the assembly order backlog on behalf of its new owners, but the aircraft is now out of production. Bombardier also sold its turboprop Q Series to De Havilland Canada.

Tupolev

Around 2,350 commercial jets have been delivered

Tupolev was the top passenger airliner manufacturer of the Soviet Union. With Russia now sanctioned by the West, Tupolev is once again putting its obsolete Tu-204/214 airliner back into production. Tupolev may deliver a single aircraft in 2025, although that particular aircraft (a Tu-204/214 business jet) might be pushed back to 2026.

Tupolev is also notable for producing the failed Tu-144 supersonic airliner. Over its history, Tupolev built around 1,000 Tu-154s, 850 Tu-134s, 200 Tu-104s, 164 Tu-124s, up to around 90 Tu-204/214s, and 16 of the supersonic Tu-144s. Excluding the turboprop aircraft, this adds up to around 2,350 aircraft.

Today, Tupolev is part of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation, a giant that includes Ilyushin, Irkut, Mikoyan, Sukhoi, Tupolev, and Yakovlev. After the Cold War ended and Russia opened up, demand for Tupolev commercial aircraft internationally and throughout the post-Soviet space (including Russia) evaporated, as airlines switched to superior Boeing and Airbus aircraft.

Embraer

Around 3,100 commercial jets have been produced

Brazil’s Embraer is a world leader in the regional jet market segment. Embraer has already delivered over 1,800 units of E-Jets E1 and E2, with the company listing a total of 1,871 deliveries as of the time of writing. Additionally, the Embraer ERJ family adds another 1,240 deliveries (production ended in 2020).

In total, these two regional jet-powered commercial aircraft account for around 3,100 deliveries. The E-Jet family is the only commercial jet still in production by Embraer. Its variants include the E170, E175, E190, E195, E190-E2, and E195-E2.

In all, Embraer has received a total of 2,328 firm orders for the family, with 437 remaining in the firm order backlog. The variants in backlog include 208 E175s, 39 E190-E2s, and 190 E195-E2s. The closest competitor to the family is the Airbus A220 family, formerly the Bombardier CSeries.

Douglas/McDonnell Douglas

Around 3,500 commercial jets were delivered

Douglas merged with McDonnell in 1967 and then with Boeing in 1997. Its aircraft included the DC-8, DC-9, DC-10, MD-80, MD-90, and MD-11, although this list doesn’t include the Boeing 717 as that aircraft was produced under Boeing’s brand name. The DC-9 family was the most common jet type produced by the company, with over 2,400 delivered.

The DC-9 family includes the MD-80, MD-80, MD-90, and Boeing 717. Boeing includes McDonnell Douglas’s aircraft production in its production tallies, bringing the total to 3,485 aircraft. After the merger in 1997, Boeing discontinued MD’s aircraft, fearing they were competing with its own production line, except for the MD-95 for a while (rebranded as the 717).

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McDonnell Douglas was once one of the greatest commercial airplane makers. It was one of the primary competitors to Boeing. Today, its aircraft continue to fly around the world primarily as freighters; they are mostly withdrawn as passenger aircraft. The Boeing 717 remains in scheduled passenger use by Delta and Hawaiian.

Airbus

Around 16,500 commercial jets delivered

While Airbus trails Boeing in cumulative deliveries, it is now the world’s largest commercial airplane maker, having around 55% of the market while Boeing has around 40%. The rise of Airbus is partially attributable to the success of the A320 family, which has just overtaken the 737 as the most delivered commercial jet, even though the 737 had a 20-year head start.

Airbus’s status as the biggest airplane maker is also due to Boeing not having a ‘normal’ production year since 2018, when it delivered 806. Boeing has still not recovered from the MAX crashes of 2018 and 2019. Airbus has delivered around 16,548 aircraft according to its website, with the overwhelming majority (12,000) being Airbus A320 narrowbody aircraft.

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The second most delivered type is the A330 family with around 1,650 deliveries, followed by the A300/A310 with 816 deliveries and the A350 with more than 682 deliveries. Airbus has also delivered A380s, A340s, and A220s in lower numbers.

Boeing

Around 25,750 commercial jets have been delivered

​​​​​​​ It should come as little surprise that Boeing has delivered many more passenger jets than any other company, no matter how the numbers are tallied. Boeing is the oldest airplane maker to more or less exist in a continuous form. According to Boeing’s own numbers, it has produced a total of around 25,000 jet airliners. About half of its deliveries are just the Boeing 737 family (around 12,000).

Other common aircraft types include around 1,000 Boeing 707s, 1,800 Boeing 727s, 1,050 Boeing 757s, 1,300 Boeing 767s, 1,800 Boeing 777s, and 1,200 Boeing 787s. Boeing’s website lists a total of 25,744 commercial aircraft delivered since 1958. Boeing’s numbers also include those of McDondall Douglas.

Boeing includes the DC-8, DC-9, DC-10, MD-11, MD-80, and MD-90, totaling 3,485 aircraft. If these are excluded, then Boeing has delivered closer to 22,259 commercial aircraft under its own brand. This includes the Boeing 717 (MD-95), which was produced by Boeing after the merger.