Crowded skies?

Question

Excluding military & private aircraft, does anyone know how many civil aircraft are in the worlds skies at anyone time? I believe there is some software out there that details Europe & N.American civil flights. Apparently it is an add-on for Microsoft FSX.

Interested to read sensible replies.

TIA & regards,

Trotting [UK]

Answer 1

There are about 4000 airplanes in the air over North America right now. If we crowd them all in below 30,000' or so, that gives every airplane 4420 cubic miles in which to fly. Assuming each stays within +/- 500 feet of some altitude, they can all fly around in a 150-mile square box (150 miles on each side) and never hit each other.

Not realistic, of course, since a good number of them are trying to land at O'Hare.

Answer 2

The problem isn't that the skies are crowded, but rather the pavement below. The problem occurs when these planes arrive and depart. Since a large percentage of them usually land and takeoff from major metropolitan areas, they have to be metered in and out. You can only have so many approaching lower airspace or a runway at a time. This can create a backup and cause Air Traffic Control (ATC) to delay takeoffs and landings. The problem isn't that the skies are crowded, but that there isn't enough runways to accommodate the increase of air traffic that has occurred during the past several years.

Another problem right now is that there is a shortage of Air Traffic Controllers right now. Controllers are now handling multiple airspace sectors that two or three controllers once handled years before. Since one person can only safely manage a certain amount of airplanes at a time, fewer airplanes are allowed into particular sectors.

To answer your question: I would guess somewhere around 15,943 aircraft are airborne at any given moment worldwide.

Answer 3

I don't know, but I've seen this question asked many times.  Perhaps you could find the answer in one of the previous questions.

Answer 4

Between The United States and Europe, and in the middle of the day, there are approx 6500 non-military and non VFR (filed flight plan only) aircraft airborne.  I have seen as many as approx 8000 peak-period, and as little as 3800 at 6:30AM eastern this morning.

Hope this helps answer your question.

Answer 5

Quite easy, check the link below.

The absolute number is almost impossible to calculate, but this gives a general picture.