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Aviation glossary

Service ceiling

Also: maximum operating altitude, ceiling

Weights and performance

Highest altitude at which an aircraft can operate normally, set either by its ability to keep climbing or by the limit fixed in its certification.

What it is

In the classic definition, the service ceiling is the altitude at which the best achievable rate of climb falls to about 100 feet per minute (0.5 m/s); above it the aircraft can barely climb any further. For airliners, the figure usually published is the certified maximum operating altitude, often set by the pressurisation system and the structure of the cabin.

That maximum does not mean the aircraft can always fly there. The heavier it is, the lower the altitude it can reach: in thinner air the margin between its minimum and maximum speeds narrows. That is why aircraft on long flights step-climb as they burn off fuel.

For reference, the Boeing 737 Next Generation is certified up to 41,000 feet (about 12,500 metres) and the Boeing 787 up to 43,000 feet (about 13,100 metres).

On Vuelopedia

The technical data on a Vuelopedia model page includes its service ceiling.

Boeing 737 Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Related terms

FootImperial unit of length equal to 0.3048 metres, in which civil aviation expresses altitude across most of the world. Flight levelAn altitude expressed in hundreds of feet and referenced to the standard pressure of 1013.25 hPa, giving aircraft at height a shared vertical reference. PressurisationSystem that keeps the air pressure inside an aircraft higher than outside, so that passengers and crew can breathe normally at high altitude. CruiseThe central and usually longest phase of a flight, in which the aircraft flies level at its most efficient height and speed between the climb and the descent. MTOWMaximum weight at which an aircraft is certified to begin its take-off, including structure, crew, passengers, cargo and fuel.
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). Service ceiling. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/service-ceiling

MLA

“Service ceiling.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/service-ceiling. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Service ceiling.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/service-ceiling.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Service ceiling. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/service-ceiling (Accessed: 19 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_service_ceiling,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Service ceiling}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/service-ceiling},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/service-ceiling}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-19},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-19}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/service-ceiling |title=Service ceiling |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-19 |language=en}}

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