A380 vs 737: The Superjumbo Is Far Bigger, but Airlines Bought Nearly 20 Times More 737-800s

How we compare the A380 and the 737

The 737 name covers four generations of Boeing jets since the first one flew in 1967. This comparison uses the 737-800, the best-selling version of the 737 Next Generation, against the A380-800, the superjumbo airlines fly.

We compare them on four measures: size, capacity and cabin, range, and the cost to buy and run them. Full specifications for the Airbus A380-800 and the Boeing 737-800 sit in our aircraft database.

737 vs A380 size

The A380 is much bigger than a 737 on every measure. It is 238 feet 7 inches (72.7 m) long against 129 feet 6 inches (39.5 m) for the 737-800, about 1.8 times the length.

The wings show the gap best. The A380 spans 261 feet 8 inches (79.8 m), more than twice the 737-800’s 117 feet 5 inches (35.8 m) with winglets.

It stands 79 feet (24.1 m) tall, almost twice the 737-800’s roughly 41 feet (12.5 m). Its fuselage is about 23 feet (7.1 m) across, against 12 feet 4 inches (3.76 m) for the 737.

Weight is the widest gap of all. The A380’s maximum takeoff weight is 575 tonnes (1,268,000 lb), more than seven fully loaded 737-800s at 174,200 pounds (79,016 kg) each.

Its wing covers 9,100 square feet (845 m²), almost seven times the 737-800’s 1,341 square feet (124.6 m²). It holds 84,500 US gallons (320,000 L) of fuel, more than 12 times the 737-800’s 6,875 gallons.

For how it ranks against every other giant, including military transports, see our guide to the biggest aircraft in the world.

Where the A380 wins

More than three times the seats

Airbus’s standard four-class layout seats 545 passengers, and the A380 is certified for up to 853. The 737-800 seats 162 in two classes and 189 at most.

Airbus pitched the A380 for dense routes, “especially out of congested airports,” where every landing slot has to carry as many people as possible. Airbus calls it the largest civil aircraft in history by seating capacity; see how it ranks in our list of the largest commercial airplanes.

Nearly three times the range

Airbus quotes a range of 8,000 nautical miles (9,200 miles, 15,000 km) with a full four-class load. The 737-800 is rated for about 2,930 nautical miles (3,370 miles, 5,420 km).

In practice the A380 flies intercontinental routes nonstop, while the 737-800 covers domestic and shorter international flights. The two rarely compete for the same route.

Where the 737-800 wins

A quarter of the price

Boeing’s last list price for a new 737-800 was about $106.1 million. The A380’s last list price, quoted for 2018, was $445.6 million, more than four times as much.

Even that price did not work for Airbus. It was not enough to cover the cost of building each A380, let alone the program’s development.

Neither aircraft is built new today. A used 737-800 typically sells for $15 million to $30 million in 2026, depending on age and condition.

Two engines instead of four

The 737-800 flies on two CFM56-7B engines of about 26,300 pounds of thrust each. The A380 puts 280,000 pounds of takeoff thrust across its wing, more than five times as much, to lift more than seven times the weight.

Running costs are where the A380 struggles. When Qantas brought its A380 retirement forward four years in August 2026, CNN reported that it cited rising maintenance and fuel costs.

The one airlines bought

Boeing delivered 4,979 737-800s to airlines by May 2019, making it the best-selling version of the 737 Next Generation. Airbus delivered 251 A380s, so for every superjumbo, airlines took nearly 20 737-800s.

The 737 family was the best-selling commercial aircraft until the Airbus A320 family passed it in October 2019, and it led in total deliveries until September 2025.

Boeing stopped building commercial 737NGs in 2019 and made the final deliveries in January 2020. Airlines now buy its successor, the 737 MAX 8, which we cover in our Boeing 737 MAX guide.

737 vs A380 seating and economy

On the A380’s main deck, economy runs ten seats across in a 3-4-3 layout with two aisles. Upstairs, airlines typically fit eight across, in 2-4-2.

Airbus says that width allows economy seats up to 19 inches wide. The main-deck cabin alone is about 21 feet (6.5 m) wide inside, while the whole 737-800 fuselage measures 12 feet 4 inches (3.76 m) across the outside.

The 737-800 seats six across, three on each side of a single aisle. Seat width and legroom depend on each airline’s cabin, so the same aircraft can feel very different on a low-cost carrier and a full-service one.

Seat counts vary just as much between airlines. Emirates flew 15 two-class A380s with 615 seats, described as the highest-capacity aircraft in the world, and in 2026 it is refitting them to 569 seats with a new premium economy cabin.

A380 engine vs 737 fuselage

A380s fly with either Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7200 engines. The Trent 900’s fan is 116 inches (2.95 m) across, nearly twice the 61 inches (1.55 m) of the 737-800’s CFM56-7B.

Set it against the smaller jet’s body and the scale gets stranger. The entire 737 fuselage is 148 inches (3.76 m) wide, so a single A380 fan is about four-fifths as wide as the cabin 737 passengers sit in.

See where the Trent 900 ranks in our list of the largest commercial aircraft engines.

Why is the A380 no longer popular?

Because airlines stopped flying the way Airbus expected. It designed the A380 for a hub-and-spoke world, and airlines moved instead to point-to-point flying on efficient twinjets.

In February 2019 Emirates, by far its biggest customer, cut its outstanding order in favor of 40 A330-900s and 30 A350-900s, and Airbus ended production. The last A380 was delivered to Emirates on December 16, 2021.

About 171 A380s remain in service, down from a peak of more than 230 in the late 2010s, according to CNN. Emirates flies 101 of them and keeps another 15 in storage.

The fleet is shrinking again. On August 27, 2026, Qantas said it would begin retiring its 10 A380s in 2028 instead of 2032, replacing them with A350s and 787s that CEO Vanessa Hudson said can fly all of its current A380 routes.

Emirates is going the other way. It plans to keep the A380 flying until 2041, and we track every remaining operator in our guide to the airlines still flying the A380.

Which Boeing is equivalent to an A380?

The Boeing 747-8 is the closest thing Boeing built. Boeing developed the 747-8 family as a competitor to Airbus’s double-deck A3XX project, which became the A380.

The 747-8 Intercontinental seats 467 in a typical three-class layout, against the A380’s 545 in four classes. Boeing delivered the last 747, a 747-8F freighter, to Atlas Air on January 31, 2023.

We compare the two giants in detail in our 747-8 vs A380 comparison.

Boeing’s next large airliner is the 777-9, a twinjet seating 414 in two classes. As of September 2026 it was still in flight testing, with first delivery expected in 2027.

Is the Boeing 787 better than the A380?

For the way most airlines fly today, yes. Qantas is replacing its A380s with A350s and 787s rather than another very large aircraft, because twinjets can serve the same routes with fewer seats to fill.

The A380 still carries far more people per flight, which matters where landing slots are scarce. We set the two side by side in our 787 vs A380 comparison.

The verdict

If the question is size, it is not close. The A380 is longer, more than twice as wide at the wingtips, over seven times as heavy, and carries more than three times the passengers nearly three times as far.

If the question is which airplane made more sense to own, the 737-800 wins just as clearly. It cost a quarter as much, needs half the engines, and airlines bought nearly 20 of them for every A380.

That is why the A380’s future now belongs mostly to Emirates, while the 737-800’s job has passed to the 737 MAX. For the 737 against Boeing’s own long-haul twinjet, see our 787 vs 737 comparison.