Rarity System
Six Tiers.
72 Aircraft.
Every aircraft in Airside has a rarity tier. Common types you'll collect by accident. Mythic types may take a lifetime.
Point Values
The workhorses of the sky.
Common aircraft are the jets you board without thinking twice. 737 NGs, A320s, E175s — these types fly thousands of routes every day and account for the vast majority of passenger movements worldwide. You'll collect many of them just by going about your life.
Where to find them
Every major hub. Every short-haul route. At the gate before almost every domestic flight.
Aircraft in this tier
The backbone of short-haul aviation worldwide. You've almost certainly been on one.
Airbus's answer to the 737 and the world's best-selling single-aisle jet.
The stretched A320. Increasingly popular for transcontinental premium cabins.
King of the US regional jet scene. Scope clause favorite.
The 50-seater everyone loves to hate. Tiny overhead bins, big character.
The baby of the A320 family. Short runways, full capability.
Boeing's controversial but ubiquitous next-gen narrowbody. Split-tip winglets.
The transatlantic narrowbody. Replacing widebodies on thinner routes.
Born as the Bombardier C Series. Passengers love the 2-3 layout and big windows.
JetBlue's workhorse. The bigger E-Jets with 2-2 seating.
Stretched CRJs. Better than the -200 but still cozy.
Turboprop. You'll hear it before you see it.
High-wing turboprop. Island hoppers and mountain airports love it.
The smaller sibling of the ATR 72. A staple of regional flying across Europe, the Caribbean, and island chains.
The re-engined A320 with sharklet wingtips. Quieter, more fuel-efficient, and taking over the world one route at a time.
The world's best-selling business jet family. You'll find one at almost every corporate FBO.
The world's most delivered light jet for 10+ consecutive years. Elegant, fast, and everywhere.
Worth seeking out.
Notable types are less ubiquitous than their Common counterparts but still regularly flown by millions. Widebodies like the 787 and A350, reliable mid-range jets like the A330, and refined regional types like the E2 family. You'll find them on international routes and better domestic options.
Where to find them
Long-haul and international routes. Business-heavy corridors. Check the seat map — if it has herringbone business class, there's a good chance you're on a Notable.
Aircraft in this tier
The composite revolution. Bigger windows, higher humidity, lower cabin altitude.
Twin-aisle workhorse. Reliable, fuel-efficient, everywhere.
The Triple Seven. Largest twin-engine jet until the 777X.
Airbus's carbon-fiber flagship. The raccoon-eye cockpit windows.
The original Embraer regional jet. Rear-mounted engines, 1-2 seating.
Updated A330 with new engines and sharklet wingtips.
The last of the DC-9 lineage. The 717 soldiers on with Delta.
Next-gen E-Jets. The shark-mouth intake you'll recognize.
Swedish turboprop that became the backbone of US regional aviation under SkyWest. Whisper-quiet cabin.
The world's most popular single-engine turboprop. Feeds small island and bush routes that nothing else can reach.
Bombardier's super-midsize. The go-to transcontinental bizjet for Fortune 500 boards.
The ultimate long-range private jet. Crosses oceans non-stop. Spotting one on a remote apron is a highlight.
The Global 7500 is the world's longest-range bizjet. Four living spaces, a full galley, and a real bed.
Fading from the mainstream.
Rare aircraft are either aging widebodies being phased out, highly specialized types, or jets confined to specific markets. The A380 is a superjumbo most people only fly on a handful of routes. The 747-400 is rapidly retiring. The COMAC C919 is only accessible to passengers flying domestically in China.
Where to find them
Emirates, Singapore, and Qatar routes for the A380. Long-haul British Airways and Lufthansa for the 747-400. Targeted booking required for most Rare types.
Aircraft in this tier
Double-deck superjumbo. The biggest passenger plane ever built.
The winglet 747. Ruled the skies for three decades.
Four-engine Airbus. Beautiful but fuel-thirsty. Fading fast.
The pencil. Overpowered and underappreciated. A pilot favorite.
The original ETOPS pioneer. Still crossing the Atlantic daily.
The final 747 variant. Only Lufthansa and Korean Air flew them as passenger jets.
China's narrowbody. Only operates domestically for now. Almost impossible to fly as a foreigner.
The classic 19-seater at tiny regional airports. No overhead bins — your bag goes in the nose.
STOL legend. Lands on grass strips, gravel, floats, and ski. The Maldives, Nepal, and Patagonia rely on it.
Embraer's first big success. The 30-seat turboprop that dominated US regional routes in the '90s. Loud, reliable, and surprisingly spacious for its size.
German-built commuter that came in turboprop and jet versions. Distinctive pointed nose and T-tail. A handful still serve remote European and African routes.
Modernized Fokker F27 with new engines and a glass cockpit. Quiet, efficient, and still serving airlines across Africa and Asia.
Mostly retired, still occasionally flying.
Epic aircraft have largely left scheduled passenger service, but survivors persist in cargo, charters, and remote regional operations. The MD-80 was retired by most US carriers by 2020. The 727 tri-jet still hauls cargo in South America. The DC-9 lives on in a handful of fleets. These are aircraft your parents flew — and you might still get lucky.
Where to find them
Low-cost and charter carriers in developing markets. Cargo operators. Older regional airlines that haven't upgraded. If you spot one in a terminal, photograph it immediately.
Aircraft in this tier
The Mad Dog. Rear-mounted engines, tremendous noise. Recently retired.
The T-tail twin that started it all for Douglas narrowbodies.
Dutch precision engineering. Quiet, comfortable, elegant.
The tri-jet that connected small-city America. Gone from passenger service.
The CFM56-powered generation before the NG. Distinctive flat-bottomed engine nacelles. Being rapidly retired.
The original Canadair Regional Jet. Identical to the CRJ-200 except for the slightly thirstier engines. Almost all were converted to -200s or retired.
British turboprop that connected hundreds of small US cities through the regional airline boom. If you flew a 19-seater in the 1990s, it was probably one of these.
The flying shoebox. Square fuselage, no pretense of aerodynamic elegance, but it got the job done at tiny airports across the British Isles and beyond.
Historic types that changed aviation.
Legendary aircraft are the ones that rewrote the rules of commercial flight. The 747 Classic democratized long-distance travel. The BAe 146 operated from city-centre airports that other jets couldn't touch. The Viscount was the first turboprop airliner and proved the technology that would follow. Spotting one today is genuinely rare — and always a moment worth logging.
Where to find them
Museum collections, air shows, and a small number of still-operational cargo and special-mission variants. The Airbus Beluga still flies factory routes in Europe. Some Il-96s fly Russian government missions. Patience required.
Aircraft in this tier
Folding wingtips. The world's largest twin-engine jet.
The Whisper Jet. Four engines on a regional jet. London City legend.
The original Queen of the Skies. Changed everything about air travel.
The plane that launched Airbus. First twin-engine widebody.
Douglas's jet age entry. First commercial aircraft to break the sound barrier (in a dive).
Soviet long-hauler with all four engines at the tail. Needed a tail stand on the ground.
The compact widebody. Pioneered the two-crew glass cockpit for Airbus.
First turboprop airliner. Smooth, quiet, revolutionary in its day.
The baby Boeing that started the dynasty. Cigar-shaped JT8D engines tucked under stubby wings. A few -200s still haul cargo in remote corners of the world.
The whale-shaped cargo plane that carries Airbus wings between factories. Unmistakable in flight. Spotting one is a bucket-list moment.
Russia's only indigenous widebody. Four engines, massive range. Still serves as the Russian presidential aircraft.
Once-in-a-lifetime encounters.
Mythic aircraft are the ones that belong in history books — the jets that defined eras, broke records, or pushed far beyond what anyone thought possible. The Concorde flew paying passengers at Mach 2. The de Havilland Comet was the world's first jet airliner, and its fatal crashes rewrote the science of metal fatigue. The Boeing 707 launched the jet age. Most are in museums now. Flying on one is no longer possible. Spotting a flying example is extraordinary.
Where to find them
Museums around the world keep examples preserved. The Concorde is on display at Heathrow, JFK, Barbados, and Seattle. Flying examples of the Convair, Electra, and Caravelle occasionally appear at airshows. The BAC One-Eleven last flew commercially in Romania in the early 2000s.
Aircraft in this tier
Supersonic. New York to London in 3.5 hours. Nothing like it before or since.
Three-engine widebody. Troubled early safety record, beloved by crews.
Lockheed's only commercial widebody. Ahead of its time. Autoland pioneer.
The last Douglas widebody. Tricky to land. Beautiful to watch.
The plane that started the jet age. Pan Am's flagship.
The world's first jet airliner. Square windows taught the world about metal fatigue.
The Soviet 727. Served Aeroflot and allies for decades.
Britain's answer to the DC-9. Rear-mounted Spey engines with a distinctive whistle. Hugely popular in Europe and the Americas through the '80s.
France's first jet airliner and the plane that proved rear-mounted engines worked. Elegant triangular windows and a glazed nose. A true aviation pioneer.
Lockheed's four-engine turboprop. Troubled early career due to wing failures, but those who flew it loved it. Military variant (P-3 Orion) served for 60+ years.
Postwar American classic. Pressurized twin-engine propliner that competed with the DC-6 on shorter routes. A few turboprop conversions still fly.
Start Your Collection
Log every aircraft you fly, spot Rare and Legendary types,
and work toward completing every tier.