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Aviation glossary

Wide-body

Also: widebody, twin-aisle aircraft, twin-aisle

The aircraft

Airliner with two cabin aisles and usually seven to ten seats per row in economy; the dominant type on long-haul routes.

What it is

The Boeing 747, which entered service in 1970, created the category with a fuselage more than 6 metres wide, two aisles and up to ten seats abreast. It was followed by the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar trijets and then by the first twin-engined wide-body, the Airbus A300.

Besides more seats, a wide fuselage offers a hold that takes standard containers and pallets, room for galleys, lavatories and crew rest areas, and premium cabins with seats that convert into beds. Types such as the Boeing 777 and 787 and the Airbus A330, A350 and A380 make up the long-haul fleets of many airlines today, though they also serve busy short routes.

On Vuelopedia

Boeing 747 McDonnell Douglas DC-10 Airbus A300

Related terms

Narrow-bodyAirliner with a single cabin aisle and typically four to six seats per row; the most common type on short and medium-haul routes. Jumbo jetPopular nickname for the Boeing 747, the first wide-body airliner, sometimes applied to other very large passenger aircraft. ULDStandardised container or pallet in which baggage and freight are consolidated so they can be loaded onto an aircraft as a single unit. Cargo holdCargo compartment, usually located beneath the cabin floor, that carries checked baggage, freight and mail on a passenger aircraft. Cabin classesService levels into which an airline divides its cabin, such as first, business, premium economy and economy, each with its own seats and service.
Whole glossary

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Wide-body. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/wide-body

MLA

“Wide-body.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/wide-body. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Wide-body.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/wide-body.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Wide-body. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/wide-body (Accessed: 17 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_wide_body,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Wide-body}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/wide-body},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/wide-body}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-17},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-17}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/wide-body |title=Wide-body |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-17 |language=en}}

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