How many airplanes are in the air at any given time, worldwide?

Question

Would also like to know how many helicopters and other (fighter jets etc.) thanks

Answer 1

No way to know.  There is no record of the many planes that are not handled by air traffic control.  

Answer 2

I would like to see the references from the guy above.  Those numbers aren't correct.  I can't give you the numbers you want, but I can say there are only 13,000 registered aircraft in the US.  US Radar systems are currently tracking 5,518 aircraft and have tracked 49,401 in the last 24 hours.  There are aircraft that aren't in Radar coverage during their flights, but this is not more then double those being tracked in Radar coverage.  

I'm sorry, but I don't know how many aircraft are in flight in the rest of the world, but my educated guess would have a total of around 20,000 at any given time.  I don't know about helicopters or fighter jets, except that I know the above numbers are incorrect.  I'm sorry I can't give you more information, but I wanted to let you know what has been said is most likely incorrect.

Answer 3

The total amount of airplanes in the skies world wide at any given time is apporx. 238,987, Helicopters there is approx 5,346, jet fighters there are exactly 25 at all times. This figures DONOT include Home builts or experimental aircrafts.

Answer 4

It is hard to tell. There is no world-wide registry of commercial, private and government aircraft. However, go to the URL shown below. It is a sort of movie that shows aircraft over the USA in a 24-hour time period. It has a counter in the lower left corner that shows the number of aircraft aloft at any one time, but only those with IFR filings.

Regards,

Dan