Aircraft range map
Where can an aircraft fly nonstop from a given airport, and how many passengers can it take?
Pick an aircraft and a departure airport. The rings show its range full and with a lighter load; each airport is coloured by what the round trip takes, headwinds included. Compare two types to see which cities one opens up. Ranges are approximate (see How it works); to see what airlines actually fly, open the fleet tracker.
Payload-range
How it works
The model
Manufacturers publish payload-range charts in their airport planning documents, but only as pictures, and their headline range is a single point on that curve: a given number of passengers, typical reserves, no wind. This page rebuilds the whole curve from public weights with the Breguet range equation, the textbook relation between the fuel burned and the distance flown, and calibrates it so that it passes exactly through the manufacturer's published range.
TOW = min(MTOW, ZFW + fuel capacity)
Range(payload) = K × ln( TOW / (ZFW × 1.05) )
K is set so that Range(seats × 95 kg) = the published range
OEW is the operating empty weight, ZFW the zero-fuel weight, MZFW its structural maximum, TOW the take-off weight and MTOW its maximum. The 1.05 keeps 5% of the zero-fuel weight as reserve fuel on landing, roughly what contingency, diversion and holding fuel add up to. K bundles cruise speed, aerodynamic efficiency and engine fuel burn into one number per aircraft. The curve has the usual three parts: at short range the payload is capped by the structure (MZFW), then fuel is traded for payload at MTOW, and once the tanks are full the aircraft can only go further by carrying less.
Full passengers means every seat of the layout behind the manufacturer's range figure, at 95 kg per passenger with bags (102 kg for the Dash 8-400, as De Havilland states). Reduced payload is the share of that payload set with the slider. For any distance, the page finds the largest payload whose range reaches it and converts it back to passengers; with full passengers and range to spare, the difference up to the structural limit is room for cargo.
Distances and winds
Distances are great-circle distances on a sphere (radius 6,371 km). On this azimuthal equidistant map, centred on the departure airport, every straight line from the centre is a great circle and every distance from the centre is true to scale, so a range ring is a circle. Airports come from OurAirports (public domain, the same source as the fleet tracker): large and medium airports with an IATA code and scheduled service, with the length of their longest open, paved runway.
Winds are a deliberately rough approximation. The jet stream blows from west to east, so on routes between North America and Europe, Africa or the Middle East (transatlantic), or between North America and Asia or Oceania (transpacific), the westbound flight's range is cut by the percentage you set (8% by default, about a 40-knot average headwind at a 480-knot cruise). Eastbound flights get no tailwind credit, which is on the safe side. The rings on the map are still-air ranges; the airport colours include the wind. Other routes, including transcontinental flights within North America and Europe–Asia, are treated as still air.
Aircraft data
Per type: the weights used, the published range the model is calibrated on, and where each figure comes from (sources consulted in September 2026). Empty weights marked * are typical public estimates: each airline's cabin, galleys and seats change them by a few tonnes, which moves the whole curve.
Limitations
- This is a planning sketch, not flight planning. Real payload-range comes from the operator's own weights, the engine and weight variant, and the airline's fuel policy.
- Published ranges aren't always consistent with each other. Brochures use different seat counts, and Boeing now markets longer "up to" ranges for the 787 and 777-9 at new weights; the notes in the table say which figure is used.
- No take-off or landing performance: a short runway, a hot day or a high airport can limit take-off weight well before range does. The runway filter only hides airports below a length; it doesn't compute what the aircraft needs.
- No ETOPS, overflight or airspace restrictions, no maximum landing weight check, and real routings are 2–5% longer than the great circle.
- The A321XLR's MZFW isn't published on Airbus's product page, so the A321neo family value is used. The 737-10 and 777-9 were still being certified in 2026, so their figures are Boeing's targets.
More on how aircraft performance shapes a network in Network Planning 101, Chapter 07: Real-World Constraints (Aircraft performance), and on choosing between types in Chapter 08: Fleet Planning. The fleet tracker shows where these aircraft are flying right now. This is a personal project and isn't affiliated with any airline or manufacturer.