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Aviation glossary

Aircraft key

Also: key, aircraft identifier

On Vuelopedia

The unique identifier Vuelopedia gives each aircraft, made up of its model family and serial number, which stays the same when the registration changes.

What it is

A registration cannot identify an aircraft over its whole life: it changes when the aircraft moves to another country or airline, and a cancelled registration may be reissued years later to a different aircraft. The manufacturer's serial number is not enough on its own either, because the same number can recur in different families.

Vuelopedia therefore identifies each aircraft with a key that combines the model family and the serial number, such as B787-38338. That combination is unique: one airframe, one key, one record.

When the serial number is not known, the aircraft is given a provisional key. If a key changes, for instance once that number becomes known, the old address normally redirects to the new one.

On Vuelopedia

The key is the last part of each record's address, as in /en/aircraft/B787-38338.

Related terms

Aircraft recordThe Vuelopedia page devoted to one individual aircraft, bringing together its identity, technical data, operators, flight log and event history. MSNSerial number assigned by the manufacturer to each aircraft which, unlike the registration, stays with it unchanged for its entire life. RegistrationCombination of letters and numbers that identifies an aircraft with the state in which it is registered and must be painted on its exterior. Aircraft familyGroup of models from one manufacturer that share a basic design, flight deck and systems while differing in size, capacity or range. Re-registrationChange of an aircraft's registration, common when it moves to another country or operator; its serial number, by contrast, never changes.
Whole glossary

Cite

To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.

This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Aircraft key. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/aircraft-key

MLA

“Aircraft key.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/aircraft-key. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Aircraft key.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/aircraft-key.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Aircraft key. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/aircraft-key (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_aircraft_key,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Aircraft key}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/aircraft-key},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/aircraft-key}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/aircraft-key |title=Aircraft key |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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