The loudest and quietest passenger planes

Two planes passing at the same height can sound very different. The biggest differences come from the age of the design, the engines and the weight, and they are large enough to matter: at the approach test point, the loudest types in the table below are 10 to 13 EPNdB louder than the quietest, and 10 dB sounds roughly twice as loud.

How to compare aircraft noise

There are three useful yardsticks, all official:

• Certification levels. Before a type can enter service, it is noise-tested at three points: beside the runway during take-off (lateral), under the climb 6.5 km from the start of the take-off run (flyover), and under the approach 2 km before the runway (approach). The results are in EPNdB, a certification unit that also accounts for how long the sound lasts. EASA publishes them for every version it certifies.
• The UK quota count. At Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, each type is rated on a points scale for night flying, separately for arrival and departure.
• Noise footprints. Governments and airports model the area where one flight of a given type is louder than a set level.

One caution: the international noise limits rise with a plane's maximum take-off weight, because bigger planes carry more. A large plane can pass its test comfortably and still be much louder over your house than a small one. For neighbours, what counts is the level itself, not the margin.

Certification levels, loudest to quietest

These are EASA's certification levels for the heaviest version of each type, rounded, in order of the three figures added together, loudest first:

Lighter versions, and the same type with different engines, can be a few EPNdB lower. The figures are for comparing types, not what a sound meter in your garden would show; our guide on how loud a plane flying over a house is covers that.

A few things stand out:

• Size is not everything. The A380 is by far the heaviest plane here, but it is quieter than the 747-400 at all three points and quieter than the 777-300ER beside the runway and on approach.
• New versions of the same plane are quieter. The A320neo is about 7 EPNdB quieter than the older A320 with CFM56 engines beside the runway and 4 under the climb; the 737 MAX 8 is about 6 and 3.5 quieter than the 737-800.
• Landings improve least. Between old and new versions, the approach figures move by only 2 to 3 EPNdB, and the A330-900 is no quieter on approach than the A330-300. On approach, much of the noise comes from the wheels and flaps rather than the engines; our guide on take-off and landing noise explains why.

The UK quota count: a practical ranking

The quota count (QC) system has been used at the London airports since 1993 to limit noise at night. Each aircraft type gets a QC rating for arrival and another for departure, based on its certification noise levels, in bands 3 EPNdB wide. The points double from one band to the next: QC0.125 covers 81 to 83.9 EPNdB, followed by QC0.25, QC0.5, QC1, QC2, QC4, QC8 and QC16. Below 81 EPNdB a plane is QC0, which mostly means business jets and propeller planes.

Some ratings published by the Department for Transport:

So one 777-300ER departure uses as much of an airport's night quota as sixteen A320neo flights. At Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, each airport has a quota of points for each season between 23:30 and 06:00. QC4 aircraft have been banned from that period since October 2022, and QC8 and QC16 aircraft may not operate between 23:00 and 07:00. The government has said that before the pandemic, QC4 aircraft were the noisiest in regular service at the three airports.

The differences show up on the ground. The Department for Transport modelled the area where a single departure is above 60 dB at its peak: 270 km² for a 747-400 at Heathrow against 150 km² for a 777-300ER, and about 49 km² for an A320neo at Stansted. Our guide to night flight rules covers how quotas and curfews work.

Why older, four-engined and freighter planes are louder

• Older engines. ICAO made its noise standard stricter in 1977, after high-bypass engines came into service, with large fans that send much of their air around the engine's core, and it has tightened the standard several times since. Types designed decades ago, like the 747-400 and MD-11, were certified under the older Chapter 3 standard.
• Weight. Heavier planes need more power, and a heavily loaded plane is generally lower over the ground after take-off than a lighter one. Long-haul flights full of fuel are the heaviest departures.
• Four engines, old designs. The 747-400 and A340-600 are among the loudest planes under the climb. Four engines are not the cause on their own: the newer four-engined A380 and 747-8 are several EPNdB quieter.
• Freighters. Many freighters are older designs, such as the 747-400F and MD-11F, or passenger jets converted to carry cargo, and cargo flights often run at night. In 2024 a freight airline told the UK government that few aircraft with lower QC ratings are available for cargo.

Why the newest types are quieter

EASA says new deliveries in the main airliner categories now consist entirely of types certified in the 2010s, such as the Embraer E2, Airbus A320neo, A330neo and A350, and the Boeing 737 MAX and 787. Since the end of 2017, new large types have had to meet ICAO's Chapter 14 standard, 7 EPNdB (cumulative across the three test points) stricter than the one before, and an even stricter standard for new designs from 2029 was adopted in March 2026. Our guide on whether new planes are really quieter covers that history.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority groups the newest types as quieter "4th generation" aircraft: the 737 MAX, E190-E2, A220 and A320neo family among single-aisle planes, the 787 and A350 among wide-bodies, and the 747-8 and A380 among the largest. At Heathrow, newer types that were not flying in 2006, such as the A380, 787, A350 and A320neo family, made up 54% of flights in 2025, while the 747-400 fell from 135 flights a day in 2006 to fewer than one.

Manufacturers put the gains in terms of noise footprints, and these are their own claims:

• Airbus says the A320neo has a 50% smaller noise footprint than the previous generation.
• Boeing says the 737-8 has a 50% smaller noise footprint than the 737-800, and credits serrated "chevrons" on the 787's engine nacelles with cutting noise.

A few EPNdB at each test point can make that much difference to the area. When the Department for Transport modelled a plane 3 EPNdB quieter than the A320neo, its 60 dB footprint came out about 40% smaller.

What it means for your street

The quietest planes are not silent. Even an A320neo landing at Stansted is above 60 dB over 56 to 90 km², depending on the direction. What makes the difference near an airport is the mix of types, and when they fly: a street under the approach to a hub with long-haul flights and night freighters hears far louder planes than one near an airport served mainly by new single-aisle jets.