How High Do Planes Fly?
Most airliners cruise between 33,000 and 42,000 feet — roughly 6 to 8 miles up. They fly that high because thin air means far less drag and better fuel efficiency, and because it puts them above most weather. Aircraft on approach over houses are typically between 1,000 and 7,000 feet.
Cruising altitude is one of the most commonly searched aviation questions and the answer is more interesting than the number alone suggests.
It also answers a related question people ask more often: how high is the aircraft that just went over my house, and why does it seem lower some days.
How high do airliners actually cruise?
Most commercial jets cruise between 33,000 and 42,000 feet, which is roughly 6 to 8 miles above the ground. A typical short-haul flight might cruise at 36,000 feet; a long-haul flight often steps up through the flight as it burns fuel and gets lighter.
Business jets routinely go higher, to 45,000 feet and occasionally above. Turboprops usually operate considerably lower, around 20,000 to 25,000 feet, because their engines are optimised for different conditions.
Concorde cruised at around 60,000 feet, high enough that passengers could see the curvature of the earth. Nothing in commercial service today goes near that.
Why do planes fly so high?
Three reasons, and the first is the main one.
Thin air means less drag. At 35,000 feet the air is roughly a quarter as dense as at sea level, so an aircraft meets far less resistance and burns far less fuel for the same speed. Fuel is the dominant cost in running an airline, so this is not a minor consideration.
Above the weather. Most significant weather happens in the lower atmosphere. Cruising above it means a smoother ride and fewer diversions around storms.
Airspace structure. High-altitude airspace is organised into levels that keep aircraft separated vertically, and being up there means fewer conflicts with everything operating lower down.
The limit is that engines need air. Climb too high and there is not enough to produce thrust or to keep the wings flying — the gap between those two limits narrows with altitude, and where they meet is known informally as coffin corner.
What is a flight level?
Above a certain altitude, aircraft stop measuring height against local air pressure and all set their altimeters to a standard setting. Height measured this way is called a flight level.
FL350 means 35,000 feet on the standard setting. The point of the system is that every aircraft in the same airspace is measuring from the same reference, so vertical separation between them is reliable even as real air pressure changes across the region.
This is why flight trackers show altitudes like FL370 rather than a plain figure in feet.
How high is the plane over my house?
Far lower than cruising altitude if you are anywhere near an airport. Aircraft on final approach follow a three-degree glideslope, which works out at roughly 300 feet of height for every mile from the runway.
So an aircraft ten miles out is around 3,000 feet up; at five miles it is around 1,500 feet. Departures climb more steeply but are still well below cruise for the first several minutes.
If you are not near an airport and aircraft are passing overhead in cruise, they will typically be somewhere above 30,000 feet and there will be very little to hear.
| Aircraft | Typical cruising altitude | In miles |
|---|---|---|
| Short-haul airliner | 33,000–38,000 ft | 6–7 |
| Long-haul airliner | 35,000–42,000 ft | 7–8 |
| Business jet | 41,000–45,000 ft | 8–8.5 |
| Turboprop | 20,000–25,000 ft | 4–5 |
| Light aircraft | 3,000–10,000 ft | under 2 |
Where a live display fits
Altitude is one of the things a live display is genuinely useful for, because it answers the question people actually have about the aircraft overhead — not what it is, but how low it is.
Ours shows altitude alongside the operator and route, which is how you can tell an unusually low aircraft from an unusually loud one. They are not the same thing and they get confused constantly.
More: What Does a Flight Number Mean? · Why Do Planes Disappear Over the Sea on Flight Trackers? · aviation gift guides
Quick answers
How high do planes fly? Most commercial airliners cruise between 33,000 and 42,000 feet, roughly 6 to 8 miles above the ground. Business jets go higher, to around 45,000 feet, while turboprops typically operate at 20,000 to 25,000 feet.
Why do planes fly at 35,000 feet? Mainly fuel efficiency. At 35,000 feet the air is around a quarter as dense as at sea level, so the aircraft meets far less drag and burns considerably less fuel. It also puts the flight above most weather and inside structured airspace that keeps aircraft vertically separated.
What does FL350 mean? FL350 is flight level 350, meaning 35,000 feet measured against a standard pressure setting rather than local air pressure. Above a certain altitude all aircraft use the same standard setting so that vertical separation between them stays reliable as real pressure changes.
How high is a plane on approach to an airport? Aircraft on final approach follow a three-degree glideslope, roughly 300 feet of altitude per mile from the runway. That puts an aircraft ten miles out at around 3,000 feet and five miles out at around 1,500 feet.
What is the highest a passenger plane has flown? Concorde cruised at around 60,000 feet, high enough for passengers to see the curvature of the earth. Nothing in commercial passenger service today operates anywhere near that altitude.