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Narrow-Body Aircraft Guide

Every narrow-body jet in Tailwinds compared: seats, range, lease cost, fuel burn, and per-seat economics. Find the right single-aisle workhorse for your airline.

Narrow-body jets are the backbone of almost every successful Tailwinds airline. They cover the busiest segment of the route map — short and medium-haul city pairs with strong, repeatable demand — and they do it with economics that widebodies simply cannot match on those stage lengths. If your airline only ever mastered one aircraft category, it should be this one.

The core trade-off inside the category is capacity versus cost. Smaller types like the A318 or 737-700 are cheap to lease and easy to fill, which makes them forgiving while you learn a market. Larger types like the A321neo or 737 MAX 10 carry far more passengers for only modestly higher trip cost — brilliant on proven routes, punishing on speculative ones. The table and per-type notes below use each aircraft's actual in-game numbers, including fuel cost per seat-kilometre, the single best measure of how cheaply a jet moves one passenger one kilometre.

How to choose

Match seats to demand first, then range to mission, and only then look at price. A jet that is 30% too big for its route flies half-empty and loses money regardless of how efficient it is on paper. New-generation types (neo, MAX, A220, E2) burn noticeably less fuel per seat than the classics they replaced, but lease for more — they reward busy networks that keep them in the air. Older classics are the value play for cash-strapped early airlines: higher burn, far lower weekly lease.

All 49 aircraft at a glance

Figures are the game's actual values. Fuel cost assumes the base fuel price of $1.20/litre — the live market price in your save drifts between roughly half and nearly double that, which is why fuel hedging matters.

AircraftSeatsRangeCruiseLease/wkPriceFuel/100kmFuel/seat-kmFuel rankLease/seat
de Havilland Comet 1 44 2,410 km 725 km/h $17K $6.5M 420 L 13.84¢ 49 / 49 $384
de Havilland Comet 4 81 5,190 km 810 km/h $19K $7.4M 480 L 8.59¢ 47 / 49 $237
Tupolev Tu-104 100 2,650 km 750 km/h $16K $6M 585 L 8.48¢ 46 / 49 $156
BAC One-Eleven 500 119 2,700 km 840 km/h $24K $10M 480 L 5.85¢ 38 / 49 $202
Yakovlev Yak-42 120 4,000 km 840 km/h $17K $7M 470 L 5.68¢ 37 / 49 $142
Airbus A318 132 5,700 km 840 km/h $43K $18M 301 L 3.31¢ 24 / 49 $326
Boeing 717-200 134 2,645 km 840 km/h $31K $13M 300 L 3.25¢ 23 / 49 $231
Airbus A220-100 135 6,700 km 840 km/h $75K $38M 286 L 3.07¢ 18 / 49 $556
Boeing 737-200Adv 136 3,800 km 840 km/h $15K $6M 431 L 4.60¢ 33 / 49 $107
Douglas DC-9-50 139 3,100 km 840 km/h $24K $10M 432 L 4.50¢ 31 / 49 $173
Boeing 737-500 140 5,200 km 840 km/h $26K $10.5M 350 L 3.63¢ 28 / 49 $186
Sud Aviation Caravelle 140 3,300 km 840 km/h $20K $8M 540 L 5.59¢ 36 / 49 $143
Boeing 737-300 149 4,400 km 840 km/h $23K $9.5M 363 L 3.53¢ 26 / 49 $154
Boeing 737-700 149 6,370 km 840 km/h $40K $16M 341 L 3.32¢ 25 / 49 $268
Convair 990 Coronado 149 6,100 km 840 km/h $20K $8M 850 L 8.27¢ 45 / 49 $134
Vickers VC10 151 9,400 km 840 km/h $23K $10M 922 L 8.85¢ 48 / 49 $152
Airbus A319ceo 156 6,900 km 840 km/h $44K $18M 337 L 3.13¢ 20 / 49 $279
Airbus A220-300 160 6,300 km 840 km/h $77K $42M 321 L 2.91¢ 13 / 49 $481
Airbus A319neo 160 6,850 km 840 km/h $81K $45M 290 L 2.63¢ 6 / 49 $506
Boeing 720B 165 6,700 km 840 km/h $20K $8M 814 L 7.15¢ 40 / 49 $121
Boeing 737 MAX 7 172 7,037 km 840 km/h $89K $50M 323 L 2.72¢ 11 / 49 $517
McDonnell Douglas MD-90 172 3,800 km 840 km/h $44K $18M 422 L 3.55¢ 27 / 49 $256
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 172 4,635 km 840 km/h $34K $14M 510 L 4.30¢ 30 / 49 $198
Boeing 707-120 174 5,600 km 840 km/h $27K $10.5M 890 L 7.42¢ 42 / 49 $157
Douglas DC-8-30 177 8,300 km 840 km/h $29K $11.3M 940 L 7.70¢ 43 / 49 $166
Hawker Siddeley Trident 3B 180 2,700 km 840 km/h $20K $8M 657 L 5.29¢ 34 / 49 $111
Tupolev Tu-154M 180 5,200 km 840 km/h $38K $16M 770 L 6.20¢ 39 / 49 $211
Airbus A320ceo 186 6,150 km 840 km/h $68K $28M 410 L 3.19¢ 22 / 49 $366
Ilyushin Il-62M 186 10,000 km 840 km/h $34K $14M 1000 L 7.80¢ 44 / 49 $183
Boeing 727-200Adv 189 4,820 km 840 km/h $24K $10M 594 L 4.56¢ 32 / 49 $127
Boeing 737-400 189 3,800 km 840 km/h $44K $18M 416 L 3.19¢ 21 / 49 $233
Boeing 707-320B 189 10,650 km 840 km/h $30K $12M 950 L 7.28¢ 41 / 49 $159
Boeing 737-800 189 5,765 km 840 km/h $68K $28M 400 L 3.07¢ 17 / 49 $360
Boeing 737 MAX 8 189 6,570 km 840 km/h $92K $49M 348 L 2.67¢ 9 / 49 $487
COMAC C919 192 5,555 km 840 km/h $92K $46M 400 L 3.02¢ 15 / 49 $479
Airbus A320neo 194 6,300 km 840 km/h $100K $50M 352 L 2.63¢ 7 / 49 $515
Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 202 6,400 km 840 km/h $99K $53M 350 L 2.51¢ 5 / 49 $490
Tupolev Tu-204-100 210 6,500 km 840 km/h $73K $30M 540 L 3.73¢ 29 / 49 $348
Irkut MC-21-300 211 6,400 km 840 km/h $98K $50M 388 L 2.66¢ 8 / 49 $464
Irkut MC-21-310 211 3,830 km 840 km/h $75K $42M 425 L 2.92¢ 14 / 49 $355
Airbus A321ceo 220 5,930 km 840 km/h $83K $34M 462 L 3.05¢ 16 / 49 $377
Boeing 737-900ER 220 5,925 km 840 km/h $79K $33M 426 L 2.81¢ 12 / 49 $359
Boeing 737 MAX 9 220 6,110 km 840 km/h $109K $58M 370 L 2.44¢ 4 / 49 $495
Boeing 737 MAX 10 230 5,740 km 840 km/h $115K $60M 387 L 2.44¢ 3 / 49 $500
Boeing 757-200 239 7,222 km 840 km/h $75K $31M 510 L 3.09¢ 19 / 49 $312
Airbus A321neo 244 7,400 km 840 km/h $123K $58M 398 L 2.36¢ 2 / 49 $504
Airbus A321XLR 244 8,700 km 840 km/h $144K $65M 396 L 2.35¢ 1 / 49 $590
Douglas DC-8-63 259 11,000 km 840 km/h $30K $12M 980 L 5.49¢ 35 / 49 $116
Boeing 757-300 295 6,295 km 840 km/h $87K $36M 546 L 2.68¢ 10 / 49 $295

Six narrow-bodies worth building a network on

Forty-four types is too many to think about. Six will build any network you care to fly. What follows moves from the jet you lease in week one to the one you grow into, and it includes a type new players reach for far too early. Every figure comes from the table above, with the arithmetic spelled out so you can argue with it.

Airbus A319ceo — the first jet worth leasing

At $43,500 a week to lease plus $45,000 in maintenance, the A319ceo is the cheapest sensible way to put 156 seats in the air, and its 6,900km range is actually longer than the A319neo's. That combination — small cabin, transcontinental legs, a modest 5,300ft runway — lets you open thin long routes from week one instead of waiting until you can afford something bigger.

Set it against the bargain-bin metal and the case closes. A 727-200Adv leases for $24,000, which looks like free money until you add its $60,000 maintenance bill: $84,000 a week against the A319ceo's $88,500. Four and a half thousand dollars separates them, and for that you get 3.13 cents per seat-kilometre instead of 4.56 cents — a 46% fuel penalty avoided — plus 2,000 more kilometres of range and 1,200 fewer feet of required runway. The 727's 189 seats are its only argument, and they are seats you must genuinely fill. Old airframes also age into rising bills and mechanical failures, so treat that $60,000 as a floor rather than a ceiling. Lease two A319ceos before you lease anything cheaper.

Boeing 737-800 — the capacity step you can own

Buy this one rather than lease it. $28M puts 189 seats on your balance sheet permanently, and from then on the weekly bill is $57,600 of maintenance and nothing else. Leased, it costs $68,000 plus maintenance — $125,600 all in, which is $37,100 more than an A319ceo for 33 extra seats and virtually identical fuel, 3.07 cents against 3.13 cents.

That is the whole decision: you are buying capacity, not economy. Take it only when your A319s are turning passengers away, because 33 seats you cannot fill burn exactly as much fuel as full ones. Where the -800 earns its keep is a maturing hub with several dense pairs — 5,765km covers nearly any domestic mission, and 5,700ft of runway asks nothing unusual of your airports. It is also the cheapest way into ownership at a useful size, since the MAX 8 sitting above it costs $55M for the same job, nearly double the capital. Own two -800s outright and your fixed costs are $115,200 a week for 378 seats, which is the sort of structure that survives fuel drifting towards $2 a litre.

Boeing 737 MAX 8 — the utilisation play

If you fly your aircraft hard, this is where a modern fleet starts. Its 2.40 cents per seat-kilometre is the best figure in the MAX family, ahead of both the MAX 9 and MAX 10 at 2.44 cents, and 6,570km of range from an ordinary 5,700ft runway puts 210 seats almost anywhere you want them. The catch is the bill: $103,000 lease plus $62,400 maintenance comes to $165,400 a week, $39,800 more than a leased 737-800.

Run the numbers before you sign. On a 4,000km sector the MAX 8 burns $20,160 of fuel carrying 210; the -800 burns $23,209 carrying 189. You save $3,049 per flight and carry 21 more passengers, so on fuel alone you need roughly thirteen sectors a week to close that $39,800 gap, and fewer once the extra seats sell. Utilisation is the entire argument. Park a MAX 8 on two round trips a week and it is a worse aeroplane than the -800 it replaced; work it across a busy hub and nothing at that size earns more. Judge it on the schedule you actually intend to fly, not the one you imagine — fleet planning is a scheduling problem before it is a shopping problem.

Airbus A321neo — the efficiency leader to grow into

Sooner or later your best pair fills a MAX 8 and you need more seats without more departures. The A321neo answers that: 244 seats at 2.36 cents per seat-kilometre, beaten only by its own XLR sibling, with 7,400km of range from the same undemanding 5,700ft a 737-800 needs. Nothing about the aircraft limits where you can send it. It simply insists on a market deep enough to fill it.

Against the obvious Boeing alternative it is not a close call. A MAX 10 leases at $115,000 with $70,000 maintenance, $185,000 a week; the A321neo totals $195,400. For $10,400 more you gain 14 seats, 1,660 additional kilometres of range and 3.3% better fuel. Treat it as the jet you grow into on three or four trunk routes rather than a fleet standard, though — 244 seats on a market that supports 180 is the classic way to turn the most efficient narrow-body available into a loss-maker, and load factor beats fuel burn every single time. Work through route economics before you commit one to a pair you have not already saturated with smaller aircraft.

Airbus A321XLR — the expensive mistake

This is the aircraft new players lease first, and it is nearly always the wrong week to do it. It tops the efficiency table at 2.35 cents per seat-kilometre — one hundredth of a cent better than the A321neo. For that hundredth you pay $144,000 in weekly lease and $75,000 in maintenance, $219,000 all in, against the neo's $195,400. The $23,600 gap buys precisely one thing: 1,300 extra kilometres of range, at roughly $1.2M a year.

It also demands 7,500ft of runway, the longest requirement of any modern type on the table, which quietly removes some of the airports you wanted it for. And the mission it exists to fly is often covered better elsewhere. A 757-200 reaches 7,222km with 239 seats off 5,500ft for $154,500 a week, $64,500 less, and only loses the fuel argument once you are flying roughly six 7,000km sectors a week. Lease the XLR when you have identified a specific ultra-long pair no other narrow-body reaches and the demand to fill 244 seats on it. Lease it merely because it sits at the top of an efficiency ranking and you have bought the most expensive rounding error in the game.

Boeing 757-300 — the density specialist

Two hundred and ninety-five seats is the largest cabin here, and the reason to want it has nothing to do with fuel. At 2.68 cents per seat-kilometre the 757-300 sits well behind the neos. What it wins on is fixed cost: $87,000 lease and $92,400 maintenance total $179,400 a week for 295 seats, whilst an A321neo costs $195,400 for 244. You move 51 more passengers for $16,000 a week less, and it costs $36M to buy against the A321neo's $58M.

The bill arrives as discipline. That $92,400 is the heaviest maintenance charge of any narrow-body listed, it wants 6,900ft of runway, and 6,295km keeps it regional rather than intercontinental. Above all, the traffic has to be genuinely there: carrying those 51 extra passengers 3,000km costs about $6,400 more in fuel than an A321neo flying the same sector, roughly $126 a head, so your fare must clear that margin. Run it at 60% and you are moving 177 people whilst paying the fuel bill for 295 — worse than a smaller jet flown full. On a saturated trunk pair out of a mature hub, nothing else on this table comes close.

Every type in the category

Reference entries for all 49, in the same order as the table. The table above carries seats, range, cruise speed, lease, price and fuel; these add the runway each type needs and its weekly maintenance bill.

de Havilland Comet 1

de Havilland · Narrow Body · needs 6,500 ft · maintenance $30K/wk

The first jet airliner. Twice the speed of anything else in the sky — history will decide the rest.

de Havilland Comet 4

de Havilland · Narrow Body · needs 6,900 ft · maintenance $36K/wk

The Comet redeemed — first jet across the Atlantic, weeks ahead of the 707.

Tupolev Tu-104

Tupolev · Narrow Body · needs 8,200 ft · maintenance $34K/wk

The second jet airliner in service, and for two years the only one flying. Thirsty, fast, and it shows.

BAC One-Eleven 500

BAC · Narrow Body · needs 6,000 ft · maintenance $30K/wk

British rear-engined short-haul jet, a 1960s rival to the DC-9.

Yakovlev Yak-42

Yakovlev · Narrow Body · needs 6,000 ft · maintenance $32K/wk

Soviet tri-jet for medium-density routes, rugged enough for unpaved regional fields.

Airbus A318

Airbus · Narrow Body · needs 4,500 ft · maintenance $39K/wk

Smallest A320 family member. Surprising range makes it usable on niche long routes.

Boeing 717-200

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,600 ft · maintenance $40K/wk

Efficient 100-seat class jet. Popular with Delta and Hawaiian for short hops.

Airbus A220-100

Airbus · Narrow Body · needs 4,800 ft · maintenance $38K/wk

Smaller A220 variant. Excellent economics on thin 100-seat routes.

Boeing 737-200Adv

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,000 ft · maintenance $45K/wk

The original 737. Very cheap on the second-hand market but thirsty and requires a flight engineer as a third crew member. Still flying on budget carriers worldwide.

Douglas DC-9-50

McDonnell Douglas · Narrow Body · needs 5,500 ft · maintenance $45K/wk

Classic short-haul twin. Still economical on busy domestic routes.

Boeing 737-500

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,400 ft · maintenance $45K/wk

Shortest Classic 737. Modest capacity and useful range for thin routes, at a low entry price.

Sud Aviation Caravelle

Sud Aviation · Narrow Body · needs 5,900 ft · maintenance $33K/wk

Pioneering French short-haul jet, the first with rear-mounted engines. A 1960s European staple.

Boeing 737-300

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,700 ft · maintenance $48K/wk

Classic 737 with CFM56-3 engines. Low entry price, but thirsty and expensive to maintain at its age.

Boeing 737-700

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,500 ft · maintenance $45K/wk

Next-Generation 737. Modern CFM56-7B engines and exceptional range for its size.

Convair 990 Coronado

Convair · Narrow Body · needs 9,800 ft · maintenance $50K/wk

The fastest subsonic airliner of its era. The speed came with thirsty engines.

Vickers VC10

Vickers · Narrow Body · needs 7,000 ft · maintenance $65K/wk

Elegant four-engine British long-hauler designed for hot-and-high African routes.

Airbus A319ceo

Airbus · Narrow Body · needs 5,300 ft · maintenance $45K/wk

Original-engine A319. Older fuel burn but very cheap on the second-hand market.

Airbus A220-300

Airbus · Narrow Body · needs 5,000 ft · maintenance $48K/wk

Modern, fuel-efficient narrow-body with excellent range for its size.

Airbus A319neo

Airbus · Narrow Body · needs 5,200 ft · maintenance $46K/wk

Smaller A320 family member with impressive range. Good for thinner routes.

Boeing 720B

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 6,800 ft · maintenance $56K/wk

A lighter, faster 707 derivative for shorter routes. Boeing's early jet-age stopgap.

Boeing 737 MAX 7

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,300 ft · maintenance $52K/wk

Smallest MAX. Excellent range for its size, suited to thinner long-haul routes.

McDonnell Douglas MD-90

McDonnell Douglas · Narrow Body · needs 5,900 ft · maintenance $50K/wk

Quieter, cleaner MD-80 successor with IAE V2500 engines.

McDonnell Douglas MD-80

McDonnell Douglas · Narrow Body · needs 5,700 ft · maintenance $52K/wk

Stretched DC-9 with rear-mounted engines. High fuel burn but very cheap to acquire.

Boeing 707-120

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 8,500 ft · maintenance $62K/wk

The one that changes everything. Domestic-range first model of the jet that shrinks the world.

Douglas DC-8-30

Douglas · Narrow Body · needs 9,500 ft · maintenance $66K/wk

Douglas answers the 707 with intercontinental range from day one.

Hawker Siddeley Trident 3B

Hawker Siddeley · Narrow Body · needs 8,200 ft · maintenance $42K/wk

British tri-jet built for dense short-haul; pioneered automatic landing.

Tupolev Tu-154M

Tupolev · Narrow Body · needs 7,200 ft · maintenance $52K/wk

Rugged, fast tri-jet workhorse of the Eastern bloc, built for rough strips.

Airbus A320ceo

Airbus · Narrow Body · needs 5,700 ft · maintenance $58K/wk

The aircraft that defined modern short-haul. Enormous global fleet.

Ilyushin Il-62M

Ilyushin · Narrow Body · needs 10,500 ft · maintenance $62K/wk

The USSR's flagship long-haul quad-jet, with a distinctive rear-mounted engine cluster.

Boeing 727-200Adv

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 6,500 ft · maintenance $60K/wk

Tri-jet classic from the 70s. Thirsty but very cheap and recognizable.

Boeing 737-400

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 6,200 ft · maintenance $55K/wk

Stretched Classic 737. Carries as many as a 737-800 for far less capital, but the CFM56-3s are thirsty and the airframe arrives old.

Boeing 707-320B

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 8,900 ft · maintenance $68K/wk

The aircraft that launched the jet age. Remarkable intercontinental range for its era. Four thirsty JT3D engines and a required flight engineer, but available for a fraction of modern prices.

Boeing 737-800

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,700 ft · maintenance $58K/wk

The world's most popular aircraft. Proven economics on short to medium routes.

Boeing 737 MAX 8

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,700 ft · maintenance $62K/wk

Next-gen 737 with CFM LEAP engines. Best-in-class fuel burn for this size.

COMAC C919

COMAC · Narrow Body · needs 6,600 ft · maintenance $55K/wk

China's domestic A320/737 rival. A strategic option for Asian routes.

Airbus A320neo

Airbus · Narrow Body · needs 5,600 ft · maintenance $59K/wk

Industry-leading narrow-body. Slightly better fuel economics than the 737.

Boeing 737 MAX 8-200

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,800 ft · maintenance $64K/wk

High-density MAX 8 with an extra exit pair. The low-cost carrier workhorse (think Ryanair).

Tupolev Tu-204-100

Tupolev · Narrow Body · needs 7,200 ft · maintenance $68K/wk

Soviet-era 737/A320 equivalent. High capacity but older fuel economics.

Irkut MC-21-300

Irkut · Narrow Body · needs 7,000 ft · maintenance $56K/wk

Russia's modern narrow-body with composite wings. Competitive specs at lower cost.

Irkut MC-21-310

Irkut · Narrow Body · needs 7,000 ft · maintenance $56K/wk

Russian composite-wing narrowbody with domestic PD-14 engines, built to rival the A321neo.

Airbus A321ceo

Airbus · Narrow Body · needs 5,700 ft · maintenance $70K/wk

Classic-engine stretched A320. Highest-capacity narrow-body before the neo.

Boeing 737-900ER

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,700 ft · maintenance $65K/wk

Largest Next-Generation 737. High capacity for busy domestic trunk routes.

Boeing 737 MAX 9

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,700 ft · maintenance $66K/wk

Mid-size MAX with high capacity and solid range.

Boeing 737 MAX 10

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 6,050 ft · maintenance $70K/wk

Largest MAX variant. High capacity for busy short-to-medium routes.

Boeing 757-200

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 5,500 ft · maintenance $80K/wk

The "narrowbody widebody." Exceptional range enables thin transatlantic routes.

Airbus A321neo

Airbus · Narrow Body · needs 5,700 ft · maintenance $72K/wk

Stretched A320 with excellent range. Can serve transatlantic thin routes.

Airbus A321XLR

Airbus · Narrow Body · needs 7,500 ft · maintenance $75K/wk

Game-changer. Near-intercontinental range in a narrow-body at a fraction of the cost.

Douglas DC-8-63

Douglas · Narrow Body · needs 9,300 ft · maintenance $78K/wk

Stretched four-engine long-haul classic of the 1960s. Once exceeded Mach 1 in a test dive.

Boeing 757-300

Boeing · Narrow Body · needs 6,900 ft · maintenance $92K/wk

Stretched 757. Very high seat density in the narrow-body class.

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