12 Best Trijets: The 3-Engine Airliners and Private Jets That Mattered Most

The best trijet ever built is the Boeing 727. Boeing delivered 1,831 of them, the highest total of any jet airliner until the 737 passed it in the early 1990s, and the type flew scheduled passengers for 55 years.

On the private side, the Dassault Falcon 900 family wins: more than 500 built since 1984. This list ranks 8 three-engine airliners and 4 three-engine business jets by one measure, how many were built and how long they served, rather than by gut feel.

As of October 2026, no three-engine airliner is in production anywhere. Dassault has quietly wound down the Falcon 900LX, which leaves the Falcon 8X as the last trijet still coming off a production line.

Rank	Trijet	First flight	Built	Status (Oct 2026)
Airliners
1	Boeing 727	1963	1,832	A few in cargo, military and VIP use
2	Tupolev Tu-154	1968	1,026	About 25 in government and military use (2025)
3	Yakovlev Yak-40	1966	1,011	22 in civil use, mostly VIP (2019)
4	McDonnell Douglas DC-10	1970	446 (incl. 60 KC-10)	Freight, firefighting, Orbis (2024)
5	Lockheed L-1011 TriStar	1970	250	One airworthy (Stargazer)
6	McDonnell Douglas MD-11	1990	200	Freighters; UPS retiring its fleet
7	Yakovlev Yak-42	1975	187	Russian regional airlines
8	Hawker Siddeley Trident	1962	117	Retired 1995
Business jets
1	Dassault Falcon 900	1984	500+	Production wound down, final deliveries 2026
2	Dassault Falcon 50	1976	352	Out of production since 2008
3	Dassault Falcon 7X	2005	289+ (by 2020)	Out of production since 2023
4	Dassault Falcon 8X	2015	50+ (by 2018)	In production

Why build a plane with three engines at all?

Rules, mostly. From 1953, a US rule kept airliners with fewer than four engines within 60 minutes of a diversion airport, which shut them out of long overwater flights. The rule was waived for three-engine aircraft in 1964, the same year the 727 entered service.

Three engines were also a compromise between customers. When Boeing designed the 727, United wanted four engines and American wanted two, while Eastern wanted a third engine for its overwater Caribbean flights. Three satisfied all of them.

The tricky part is the middle engine. Many trijets, including the 727, the TriStar and the Falcon 50, bury it in the rear fuselage and feed it through an S-shaped duct from an inlet above, which keeps drag low and the thrust close to the centerline.

The DC-10 and MD-11 mount it straight through the tail fin instead, which is easier to install and maintain but costs some aerodynamic efficiency.

For comparison, see our ranking of the best four-engine passenger planes, the other way airlines solved the long-range problem before twins were trusted.

The best trijet airliners

1. Boeing 727

The Boeing 727 first flew on February 9, 1963, and entered service with Eastern Air Lines on February 1, 1964. Production ended in 1984 with 1,832 built.

It was powered by three Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbofans. The stretched 727-200 seated up to 155 passengers and flew about 2,550 nmi.

The 727 earns the top spot on volume and longevity. Iran Aseman Airlines flew the world’s last scheduled 727 passenger flight on January 13, 2019, from Zahedan to Tehran, and a few airframes remain in cargo, military and executive service.

It is also the jet in aviation’s most famous unsolved hijacking: D.B. Cooper jumped from a 727’s rear stairs in 1971, and the device fitted to stop copycats still carries his name.

2. Tupolev Tu-154

The Tupolev Tu-154 was built almost as often as the 727: 1,026 airframes. It first flew on October 4, 1968, and entered Aeroflot service on February 7, 1972.

It carried 128 passengers in two classes, or up to 180 in a high-density layout, over a range of about 3,280 miles (5,280 km). The later Tu-154M switched to Soloviev D-30KU-154 engines, and the last new airframe went to the Russian Ministry of Defense in February 2013.

Early versions could not meet Stage III noise rules and were barred from the EU, while hush-kitted Tu-154Ms could comply. ALROSA, the last Russian airline flying it with passengers, retired its final Tu-154 in October 2020.

About 25 were still in service in 2025 with the Russian Aerospace Forces, the Chinese air force and North Korea’s Air Koryo. The type’s best-known loss was the Polish presidential aircraft, which crashed in fog at Smolensk on April 10, 2010, killing everyone aboard, including the president.

3. Yakovlev Yak-40

The Yakovlev Yak-40 is the smallest airliner on this list and the third most-built trijet in history: 1,011 between 1967 and 1981. It first flew in 1966 and entered Aeroflot service in September 1968.

It seats 24 to 27 passengers, up to 32 in a dense layout, and flies about 970 nmi on three Ivchenko AI-25 engines. It was the first Soviet-built airliner designed to Western airworthiness requirements, and 130 were exported.

By July 2019, 22 were still in civil service, mostly as VIP transports. It ranks above much larger jets on this list for one reason: volume.

4. McDonnell Douglas DC-10

The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 first flew on August 29, 1970, and entered service with American Airlines on August 5, 1971. Douglas built 386 airliners plus 60 KC-10 tankers for the US Air Force, 446 in all.

The long-range DC-10-30 carried about 270 passengers up to 5,200 nmi. It won the trijet sales war against Lockheed, selling 386 airliners to the TriStar’s 250.

Its reputation suffered early. A cargo door blew out on American Flight 96 over Windsor, Ontario, in 1972, and a cargo door failure also brought down Turkish Airlines Flight 981 in 1974, killing 346, the deadliest air crash up to that time.

After the crash of American Flight 191 in 1979, which killed 271 aboard and two people on the ground, the FAA grounded US DC-10s on June 6 for about five weeks. Biman Bangladesh flew the last DC-10 passenger service on February 20, 2014, and the Air Force flew its last KC-10 to the boneyard on September 26, 2024.

5. Lockheed L-1011 TriStar

The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar was arguably the most advanced airliner of its day. It first flew on November 16, 1970, entered service with Eastern on April 26, 1972, and became the first widebody certified by the FAA for Category IIIc autoland, landing with zero visibility.

It seated up to 400 passengers, flew more than 4,000 nmi, and used three Rolls-Royce RB211 engines, the center one fed by an S-duct. That engine nearly killed the program: Rolls-Royce went into receivership in February 1971, and its rescue depended on the US government guaranteeing Lockheed’s bank loans.

Lockheed needed 500 sales to break even and sold 250. It announced the end of production in 1981, delivered the last TriStar in 1984, and left the civil airliner business for good.

6. McDonnell Douglas MD-11

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 was developed to succeed the DC-10 and the last three-engine airliner ever built. It first flew on January 10, 1990, entered service with Finnair that December, and ended production in October 2000 after 200 airframes.

It seated 298 passengers in three classes and could fly up to 7,130 nmi on GE CF6-80C2 or Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines. But it initially missed its range and fuel-burn targets, and long-range twins such as the 777 took its passenger market. KLM flew the last scheduled MD-11 passenger flight on October 26, 2014.

As a freighter it thrived, until November 4, 2025. That day, UPS Flight 2976 lost its left engine and most of its pylon on takeoff from Louisville, killing 15 people (3 crew and 12 on the ground) and injuring 22. The NTSB’s preliminary report found fatigue cracks in the aft pylon mount lugs.

The FAA grounded the MD-11 on November 8, 2025, and lifted the grounding on May 11, 2026. UPS announced in January 2026 that it would retire its entire MD-11 fleet, while FedEx returned its remaining aircraft to service after the grounding ended.

7. Yakovlev Yak-42

The Yakovlev Yak-42 first flew on March 7, 1975, and flew its first scheduled Aeroflot service on December 22, 1980. In all, 187 were built between 1977 and 2003.

It seats up to 120 passengers and flies about 2,200 nmi on three Lotarev D-36 engines. As of August 2025, Russian regional carriers Izhavia and KrasAvia were still flying it with passengers, which makes it one of the very few trijets still flying scheduled passengers.

Its worst accident was the September 7, 2011 crash at Yaroslavl, when a Yak-42 stalled after takeoff carrying the Lokomotiv ice hockey team. Of 45 people aboard, one crew member survived; the cause was pilot error.

8. Hawker Siddeley Trident

The Hawker Siddeley Trident first flew on January 9, 1962, and entered service with BEA on April 1, 1964, two months after the 727. Only 117 were built before production ended in 1978, and the last was retired in 1995.

Its problem was its launch customer. In 1959 BEA asked de Havilland to shrink the design, and one verdict on the result was that the airliner had been emasculated in size, power and range. The early Trident 1C flew up to 2,350 nmi with 101 to 115 seats.

The stretched Trident 3B carried 180 passengers and even added a small fourth booster engine in the tail, which makes it a trijet with four engines. Where the Trident truly led the world was automation.

The best private trijets

The trijet survived longest in business aviation, almost entirely at Dassault. Dassault’s case for the layout, in its own words, is a three-engine safety factor that shortens transoceanic routes, plus takeoffs from shorter runways with faster climbs.

1. Dassault Falcon 900

The Dassault Falcon 900 first flew on September 21, 1984, and was certified in 1986. A development of the Falcon 50 with a larger fuselage and the same three-engine layout, it was built more than 500 times across its versions.

The final 900LX seats up to 19 passengers, flies 4,750 nmi on three Honeywell TFE731 engines, and listed at $45.5 million. Dassault used composites to save weight on secondary structure: on the 900C, Kevlar for the radome, tailcone and center-engine inlet duct, and carbon fiber for the main gear doors.

Dassault never formally announced the end of the line. According to Forecast International, the last new-build 900LX entered production around July 2025, with 2026 expected to be its final delivery year.

2. Dassault Falcon 50

The Dassault Falcon 50 is the jet that started Dassault’s trijet line. It first flew on November 7, 1976, and kept the fuselage cross-section of the twin-engine Falcon 20 in an otherwise new, area-ruled design.

Dassault built 352 between 1976 and 2008. It carries 8 or 9 passengers on three TFE731 engines, and the later 50EX flies 3,075 nmi.

To see how the Falcons compare with today’s best sellers, read our guide to the most popular private jets.

3. Dassault Falcon 7X

The Dassault Falcon 7X first flew on May 5, 2005, entered service on June 15, 2007, and was the first business jet with fully fly-by-wire flight controls. At least 289 were built before production ended in 2023.

It seats 12 to 16 passengers and flies 5,950 nmi on three Pratt & Whitney Canada PW307A engines. Its price climbed from about $35 million at launch in 2001 to $54.2 million equipped in 2022; one televangelist’s $54 million Falcon 7X appeal became a story of its own.

4. Dassault Falcon 8X

The Dassault Falcon 8X is the longest-range trijet business jet ever built, and it ranks last only because it is the youngest. It first flew on February 6, 2015, and was first delivered on October 5, 2016.

It flies 6,450 nmi with 12 to 16 passengers on three PW307D engines, and cost $62.5 million equipped in 2022. Dassault says it can fly nonstop from London City’s 3,934-foot (1,199 m) runway to Mumbai or Chicago, with an approach speed of just 107 knots.

With the 7X and 900LX gone, the 8X is almost certainly the last trijet in production anywhere. Dassault’s newest jets, the Falcon 6X and the Falcon 10X that first flew on June 19, 2026, are both twins.

Why trijets disappeared

Twins got permission to fly the same routes. On February 1, 1985, TWA flew the first 120-minute ETOPS service, a 767-200 from Boston to Paris, and the FAA allowed 180 minutes in 1988. The 777 entered service in 1995 as the first aircraft with a 180-minute ETOPS rating from day one.

Once a twin could cross an ocean, the third engine became pure cost. Big new engines such as the GE90 let a twin match a trijet’s payload and range more efficiently, and the MD-11 burned more fuel and cost more to maintain than the twins replacing it.

The rules even turned around. Today, 14 CFR 121.161 limits a two-engine airliner to 60 minutes from an adequate airport and a passenger airliner with more than two engines to 180 minutes, unless the operator holds ETOPS approval. Three engines no longer buy an exemption on long airline routes.

Business jets kept the layout longer because their owners care less about running costs than airlines do.

Are any trijets still flying in 2026?

Yes, but outside the Falcons, very few, and almost none carry paying passengers. Here is where each type stands as of October 2026.

• MD-11: back in the air since May 11, 2026, with FedEx (26 aircraft) and Western Global (3). UPS is retiring its fleet.
• DC-10: listed in 2024 with 10 Tanker (firefighting), Orbis (flying eye hospital) and a few freight and aerial-refueling operators.
• L-1011: one airworthy, Northrop Grumman’s Stargazer.
• Tu-154: about 25 with the Russian and Chinese air forces and Air Koryo (2025).
• Yak-42: still in scheduled service with Izhavia and KrasAvia (2025).
• Boeing 727: limited cargo, military and executive use.
• Dassault Falcons: the 50, 900, 7X and 8X remain in wide private and government use.

Several of these survive on niche work that no new aircraft is built for. That is a pattern we also see in our list of the worst aircraft still in service.

Which manufacturers built both interceptors and trijets?

Several did, which is why there is no single answer to this popular trivia question. Lockheed built the F-104 Starfighter interceptor and the L-1011 TriStar, and Dassault built the Mirage III interceptor and the Falcon trijets.

In the Soviet Union, Tupolev built the Tu-128, the largest and heaviest fighter ever put into serial production, alongside the Tu-154. Yakovlev built the Yak-28P interceptor as well as the Yak-40 and Yak-42.

McDonnell built the F-101B Voodoo interceptor before its 1967 merger with Douglas, and the merged company built the DC-10 and MD-11. So the honest answer depends on whether the question means one company or one family of companies.

FAQ

Why aren't trijets used anymore?

Twins replaced them once ETOPS rules let two-engine airliners fly long overwater routes, starting with 120 minutes in 1985 and 180 minutes in 1988. A third engine adds fuel burn and maintenance cost, and modern twins with large, reliable engines carry the same payload over the same distance more efficiently.

Are there any trijets still flying?

Yes. Dassault Falcon trijets are in wide private use, FedEx and Western Global still fly MD-11 freighters, DC-10s fly as firefighting tankers and as the Orbis flying eye hospital, and Russian regional airlines still fly the Yak-42. Only one L-1011 TriStar remains airworthy, Northrop Grumman’s Stargazer.

What planes have three engines?

The best-known three-engine airliners are the Boeing 727, McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and MD-11, Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, Tupolev Tu-154, Yakovlev Yak-40 and Yak-42, and Hawker Siddeley Trident. The best-known three-engine business jets are the Dassault Falcon 50, 900, 7X and 8X.

Is any trijet still in production?

Only the Dassault Falcon 8X business jet. The Falcon 7X ended production in 2023 and the Falcon 900LX has been wound down, with 2026 expected to be its final delivery year. No three-engine airliner has been built since the MD-11 ended production in 2000.

What was the most-produced trijet?

The Boeing 727, with 1,832 built between the early 1960s and 1984. It was the most-produced jet airliner of any kind until the Boeing 737 passed it in the early 1990s. The Tupolev Tu-154, with 1,026 built, is second.

What was the last three-engine airliner?

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11, which ended production in October 2000 after 200 were built. KLM flew the last scheduled MD-11 passenger flight in October 2014, and the type has flown only as a freighter since.

Why was the MD-11 grounded?

The FAA grounded the MD-11 on November 8, 2025, four days after UPS Flight 2976 lost its left engine and pylon on takeoff from Louisville, killing 15 people. The NTSB’s preliminary report found fatigue cracks in the aft pylon mount lugs. The grounding was lifted on May 11, 2026.

Which aircraft manufacturer is known for both military interceptors and commercial trijets?

Several qualify. Lockheed built the F-104 Starfighter and the L-1011 TriStar, McDonnell Douglas traces back to the F-101B Voodoo and built the DC-10 and MD-11, Dassault built the Mirage III and the Falcon trijets, and Tupolev and Yakovlev built both interceptors and trijet airliners in the Soviet Union.