Design Group III

Of the 364 types on this site, 77 are in Design Group III, the band from 79 to under 118 ft of wingspan or 30 to under 45 ft of tail height. Boeing accounts for 16, Airbus for 9 and ATR for 8; 44 come from other makers. By engine type: 57 jets, 16 turboprops and 4 piston aircraft. Wingspan alone decides the group for 38 of them; for the other 39, the tail height lands in the same group too. Spans run from the ATR 72-500 up to the Boeing 737 MAX 9.

III

Wingspan 79 to under 118 ft or tail 30 to under 45 ft · 77 types

Boeing 737 MAX 9span 117.8 ft · length 138.3 fttail 40.8 ft · III-D
Boeing 737 MAX 8span 117.8 ft · length 129.7 fttail 40.3 ft · III-D
Boeing 737 MAX 7span 117.8 ft · length 116.7 fttail 41.0 ft · III-D
Airbus A321span 117.5 ft · length 146.0 fttail 39.7 ft · III-D
Airbus A321neospan 117.5 ft · length 146.0 fttail 39.7 ft · III-C
Airbus A320span 117.5 ft · length 123.3 fttail 39.6 ft · III-C
Airbus A320neospan 117.5 ft · length 123.3 fttail 39.6 ft · III-C
Airbus A319span 117.5 ft · length 111.0 fttail 39.7 ft · III-C
Airbus A319neospan 117.5 ft · length 111.0 fttail 39.7 ft · III-C
Douglas DC-6span 117.5 ft · length 100.6 fttail 28.4 ft · III-B
Boeing 737-900span 117.4 ft · length 138.2 fttail 41.4 ft · III-D
Boeing 737-800span 117.4 ft · length 129.5 fttail 41.4 ft · III-D
Boeing 737-700span 117.4 ft · length 110.3 fttail 41.6 ft · III-C
Boeing 737-600span 117.4 ft · length 102.5 fttail 41.7 ft · III-C
Embraer E195-E2span 115.2 ft · length 136.2 fttail 35.8 ft · III-C
Airbus A220-300span 115.1 ft · length 127.0 fttail 38.7 ft · III-C
Airbus A220-100span 115.1 ft · length 114.8 fttail 38.7 ft · III-C
Airbus A318span 111.9 ft · length 103.2 fttail 42.3 ft · III-C
Embraer E190-E2span 110.6 ft · length 118.8 fttail 36.1 ft · III-C
Boeing 727-200span 109.3 ft · length 153.2 fttail 34.9 ft · III-C
Boeing 727-200 Super 27span 108.0 ft · length 153.2 fttail 34.9 ft · III-C
Boeing 727-100span 108.0 ft · length 133.2 fttail 34.3 ft · III-C
Boeing 727-100 Super 27span 108.0 ft · length 133.2 fttail 34.3 ft · III-C
McDonnell Douglas MD-90span 107.9 ft · length 152.6 fttail 31.2 ft · III-D
McDonnell Douglas MD-81span 107.9 ft · length 147.8 fttail 30.2 ft · III-C
McDonnell Douglas MD-82span 107.9 ft · length 147.8 fttail 30.2 ft · III-C
McDonnell Douglas MD-83span 107.9 ft · length 147.8 fttail 30.2 ft · III-D
McDonnell Douglas MD-88span 107.9 ft · length 147.8 fttail 30.2 ft · III-C
McDonnell Douglas MD-87span 107.9 ft · length 130.4 fttail 31.2 ft · III-C
Convair CV-580/600/640span 105.3 ft · length 95.8 fttail 29.2 ft · III-B
Antonov An-74span 104.6 ft · length 92.1 fttail 28.4 ft · III-B
Boeing 737-300span 102.4 ft · length 109.6 fttail 36.3 ft · III-C
Embraer 175 (long wing)span 101.7 ft · length 106.0 fttail 32.4 ft · III-C
Lockheed P-3 Orionspan 99.7 ft · length 116.0 fttail 33.7 ft · III-C
Gulfstream G650span 99.7 ft · length 99.8 fttail 25.8 ft · III-C
Douglas DC-3span 95.2 ft · length 64.7 fttail 16.9 ft · III-B
Boeing 737-400span 94.8 ft · length 119.6 fttail 36.3 ft · III-C
Boeing 737-500span 94.8 ft · length 101.8 fttail 36.3 ft · III-C
Embraer 195span 94.2 ft · length 126.8 fttail 33.7 ft · III-C
Embraer 190span 94.2 ft · length 118.9 fttail 34.6 ft · III-C
Embraer 175 (short wing)span 94.2 ft · length 103.9 fttail 32.4 ft · III-C
Gulfstream G600span 94.2 ft · length 96.1 fttail 25.3 ft · III-C
Bombardier Global Expressspan 94.0 ft · length 99.4 fttail 25.5 ft · III-C
Bombardier Global 5000span 94.0 ft · length 96.8 fttail 25.5 ft · III-C
Gulfstream Vspan 93.5 ft · length 96.4 fttail 25.9 ft · III-C
Douglas DC-9-50span 93.4 ft · length 133.6 fttail 28.8 ft · III-C
Boeing 717-200span 93.3 ft · length 124.0 fttail 29.7 ft · III-C
Douglas DC-9-30span 93.3 ft · length 119.3 fttail 27.8 ft · III-C
De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400span 93.3 ft · length 107.8 fttail 27.4 ft · III-C
Boeing 737-200span 93.0 ft · length 100.2 fttail 36.8 ft · III-C
De Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7span 93.0 ft · length 80.5 fttail 26.2 ft · III-A
Convair CV-440 Metropolitanspan 91.8 ft · length 79.2 fttail 27.9 ft · III-B
Sukhoi Superjet 100span 91.2 ft · length 98.2 fttail 33.7 ft · III-C
De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300span 90.0 ft · length 84.3 fttail 24.6 ft · III-B
Douglas Super DC-3span 90.0 ft · length 67.8 fttail 16.7 ft · III-B
Douglas DC-9-10span 89.4 ft · length 104.4 fttail 27.6 ft · III-C
ATR 72-201/202span 88.8 ft · length 89.1 fttail 25.1 ft · III-B
ATR 72-211/212span 88.7 ft · length 89.1 fttail 25.1 ft · III-B
ATR 72-600span 88.7 ft · length 89.1 fttail 25.1 ft · III-B
BAC One-Elevenspan 88.5 ft · length 93.5 fttail 24.5 ft · III-C
Avro RJ100span 86.4 ft · length 101.7 fttail 28.2 ft · III-C
Avro RJ85span 86.4 ft · length 93.7 fttail 28.3 ft · III-C
BAe 146-200span 86.4 ft · length 93.7 fttail 28.3 ft · III-C
BAe 146-100span 86.4 ft · length 85.9 fttail 28.3 ft · III-C
Gulfstream G500span 86.3 ft · length 91.2 fttail 25.5 ft · III-C
Dassault Falcon 8Xspan 86.3 ft · length 80.2 fttail 26.1 ft · III-B
Dassault Falcon 7Xspan 86.0 ft · length 76.1 fttail 25.7 ft · III-B
Embraer 170span 85.3 ft · length 98.1 fttail 32.3 ft · III-C
De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100span 85.0 ft · length 73.0 fttail 24.6 ft · III-B
De Havilland Canada Dash 8-200span 85.0 ft · length 73.0 fttail 24.6 ft · III-B
CASA CN-235span 84.7 ft · length 64.5 fttail 26.8 ft · III-B
Bombardier CRJ900span 81.5 ft · length 118.8 fttail 24.1 ft · III-D
ATR 42-300/320span 80.7 ft · length 74.4 fttail 24.9 ft · III-B
ATR 42-400span 80.7 ft · length 74.4 fttail 24.9 ft · III-B
ATR 42-500span 80.7 ft · length 74.4 fttail 24.9 ft · III-B
ATR 42-600span 80.7 ft · length 74.4 fttail 24.9 ft · III-B
ATR 72-500span 80.6 ft · length 89.1 fttail 25.1 ft · III-B

One scale for every outline on this page, nose up. Codes read Design Group, then Approach Category.

Close to a line

In all, 14 types stop short of the 118 ft wingspan line: the 737 MAX 7 (0.2 ft), the 737 MAX 8 (0.2 ft), the 737 MAX 9 (0.2 ft), the A319 (0.5 ft), the A319neo (0.5 ft), the A320 (0.5 ft), the A320neo (0.5 ft), the A321 (0.5 ft) and six more. Six types clear the 79 ft wingspan line by 2.5 ft or less: the 72-500 (1.6 ft), the 42-300/320 (1.7 ft), the 42-400 (1.7 ft), the 42-500 (1.7 ft), the 42-600 (1.7 ft) and the CRJ900 (2.5 ft).

Approach categories

By approach category the types split into 1 in Category A, 20 in Category B, 47 in Category C and 9 in Category D. The FAA reference approach speeds behind those categories run from 83 to 150 kt.

Background: Airplane Design Groups I–VI explained.

Source: FAA Aircraft Characteristics Database, October 2024 release. How we measure.