Confusing Quantification: How Many Parts Does An Airliner Have?

A large widebody airliner comprises millions of individual parts.

Estimating the total number of parts installed on an airliner is difficult. Aircraft are complex machines manufactured with hundreds of large and small components. More significant components, such as the fuselage and wing sections, can comprise hundreds of thousands of individual parts.

The fuselage, wings, tail section, engines, and landing gear are some of the largest aircraft components. The fuselage is the main structural component of the aircraft. The fuselage has three main sections, the front, the center (where the wings are attached), and the rear section, where stabilizer attachments are present.

The three sections are attached with thousands of rivets along the diameter. On the inside, thousands of meters of electrical wiring runs along the fuselage length. Air conditioning, emergency oxygen, and other critical systems are hidden behind large wall panels of the fuselage.

Wings are one of the most complex structural components of the aircraft. Wings are much more than just planer surfaces to generate lift. They provide the necessary strength and balance to the aircraft. While carrying fuel within its structure, the wings also hold the weight of the engines (in most configurations).

The size and complexity of modern aircraft engines require them to have thousands of individual parts. Aircraft engines are generally categorized into a few major modules. The low-pressure module, the core (high-pressure section), the turbine module, and the accessory gearbox. Aircraft engines comprise anywhere between 20,000 and 40,000 individual parts, depending on the size of the engine.

A typical narrowbody, Airbus A320/Boeing 737 type, can carry approximately 180 passengers. Such aircraft are about 120 ft (36 m) in length with a wingspan of roughly 110 ft (24 m). Various sections of the Airbus aircraft are sub-assembled at different locations across Europe. All sections with assemblies and systems come together at one of four final assembly factories. These facilities are in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; Tianjin, China; and Mobile, AL, USA.

A fully assembled Airbus A320 aircraft consists of 340,000 parts. Airbus also states that when all individual sections are completed, it takes nearly 30 days for the final assembly of the aircraft. Moreover, the production lead time of an A320 from piece-part manufacturing to aircraft delivery takes approximately one year. A Boeing 737 MAX aircraft consists of roughly 500,000 parts.

Widebody aircraft can accommodate anywhere between 240 and 550 passengers. Such aircraft are as long as 250 ft (76 m) with a comparable-sized wingspan. Each wing of the Boeing 747 has nearly 40,000 rivets installed.

Similar to the Airbus aircraft, significant components of Boeing aircraft also get assembled at different locations before arriving for final assembly at one of Boeing's factories. Boeing's final assembly lines are in Renton and Everett in Washington State and Charleston in South Carolina.

The final assembly of a Boeing 747 takes 45 days to complete. A Boeing 747-8 aircraft comprises more than six million individual parts when completed. More than three million individual parts are pieced together to build a Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

What do you think about the number of parts airliners comprise? Tell us in the comments section.

Writer - Omar is an aviation enthusiast who holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering. With numerous years of technical and research experience under his belt, Omar aims to focus on research-based aviation practices. Apart from work, Omar has a passion for traveling, visiting aviation sites, and plane spotting. Based in Vancouver, Canada