158 Airplane Quotes About Flying and Travel

These inspirational airplane quotes about aviation will encourage you to fly away to your dream destination.

Airplanes are incredible feats of technology that make it possible to easily and safely travel all around the world.

These airplane quotes about aviation and air travel will fill you with a sense of wonder and wanderlust.

According to the International Air Transport Association, over 4 billion passengers flew on commercial airlines in 2019, highlighting the incredible scale and global reach of the airline industry.

This underscores the significant impact of airplanes on modern travel and commerce.

Flying in an airplane is the most efficient and luxurious way to get across the globe.

Despite the weather delays, security checkpoints, and long lines at baggage claim, nothing beats the convenience of air travel.

Whether you’re a regular jet setter or a first-time flyer, these airplane quotes will delight you.

Broaden your horizons and gain a new appreciation for pilots, planes, and the gift of flight.

This collection of quotes about airplanes highlights the true beauty of air travel.

Share these words of wisdom and insightful thoughts with all of the avid flyers that you know.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

If you enjoy this collection, check out our inspirational quotes category page.

Airplane quotes about aviation and air travel

According to a study by the University of California, Berkeley, air travel is the safest mode of transportation in the world, with fewer fatalities per passenger-mile than any other mode of transport.

This demonstrates the impressive safety record of airplanes and the technological advancements that make flying safer than ever before.

1. “Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price.” – Amelia Earhart

2. “I heard an airplane passing overhead. I wished I was on it.” – Charles Bukowski

You will also enjoy our article on airport quotes.

3. “The airplane stays up because it doesn’t have the time to fall.” – Orville Wright

4. “There’s only one job in this world that gives you an office in the sky; and that is pilot.” – Mohith Agadi

5. “And back up they would go, not knowing where or when they would be able to land again.” – Maude Julien

6. “Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.” – Edward Vernon Rickenbacker

7. “You don’t jump out of an airplane and stop halfway. It’s all the way.” – Jesse White

8. “Airplane travel is nature’s way of making you look like your passport photo.” – Al Gore

9. “The engine is the heart of an airplane, but the pilot is its soul.” – Walter Raleigh

10. “A pilot who says he has never been frightened in an airplane is, I’m afraid, lying.” – Louise Thaden

Airplane quotes to appreciate air travel

According to a study by the International Civil Aviation Organization, the airline industry supports over 65 million jobs worldwide and contributes over $2.7 trillion to the global economy, underscoring the significant economic impact of airplanes and air travel.

This demonstrates the crucial role of airplanes in global commerce and connectivity.

11. “The airplanes slowly taxied to the beginning of the runway, humbly and calmly with flaps down, bowing with deference to the infinite sky.” – Ross Victory

12. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford

13. “The construction of an airplane is simple compared with the evolutionary achievement of a bird. If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes.” – Charles Lindbergh

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14. “I’ve always loved airplanes and flight. The space program was really important to me as a kid. I still have a photo of Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon in my living room.” – Bill Nye

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15. “What’s important is that a customer should get off the airplane feeling, ‘I didn’t just get from A to B. I had one of the most pleasant experiences I ever had, and I’ll be back for that reason.’” – Herb Kelleher

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16. “If you can walk away from a landing, it’s a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it’s an outstanding landing.” – Chuck Yeager

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17. “Flying is hours and hours of boredom sprinkled with a few seconds of sheer terror.” – Gregory “Pappy” Boyington

You will also enjoy our article on time flies quotes.

18. “I love flying so much. I even like airplane food. No one bothers you and your phone never goes off and you can’t have emails go through. It’s undisturbed.” – Margot Robbie

19. “To be happy in this world, first you need a cell phone and then you need an airplane. Then you’re truly wireless.” – Ted Turner

20. “Genius without wisdom is like a plane without wings; it will navigate the runway but it will never know the sky.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough

If you enjoy this article, check out our collection of train quotes for travel lovers.

Airplane quotes about the true beauty of air travel

21. “The similarities between commercial airplanes and automobiles are striking. It’s all about safe and efficient transportation using the latest technology and the best fuel efficiency.” – Alan Mulally

22. “What would air travel look like if airplanes were thrown out after each flight? No one would be flying in airplanes.” – Gwynne Shotwell

23. “If you have a fear of flying, don’t. The data are very clear: If you have to travel someplace, the safest way is by airplane.” – Peter Diamandis

24. “Go up in a big airplane. Go high enough, and you will see the radiation rainbow interference ring around the shadow of the airplane on the clouds below.” – Steven Magee

25. “I wanted to travel from the beginning. As a kid, I used to dream about airplanes, before I ever flew in one.” – Mary Ellen Mark

26. “I was hooked on aviation, made model airplanes, and never thought I would be able to fly myself. It cost too much. But then World War II came along and changed all that.” – John Glenn

27. “If you take one rivet out of an airplane, it will be alright, it’ll keep flying. You take another rivet out of the airplane and it still flies. So what the heck, let’s take more rivets out of the airplane, and sooner or later, the airplane drops from the sky.” – Ted Danson

28. “When you get into an airplane by yourself and take off, you find yourself in this lovely, three-dimensional world where you can go in any direction. There is no feeling any more exciting than that.” – Gene Roddenberry

29. “Every time I step onto an airplane, I turn to the right and take a good, hard stare into the maw of the engine. I don’t know what I’m looking for. I just do it.” – Barbara Kingsolver

30. “I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on.” – Jean Kerr

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Insightful Airplane quotes

31. “Any design, whether it’s for a ship or an airplane, must be done in anticipation of potential failures.” – Henry Petroski

32. “I came up with the idea of a solar airplane flying around the world with no fuel ― that would be a beautiful message in terms of technology, the energy of the future and the environment.” – Bertrand Piccard

33. “Learning to fly an airplane taught me a way of thinking, an approach to problem-solving that was applicable and effective. Pilots are very methodical and meticulous, and artists tend not to be.” – Chris Carter

34. “Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory.” – Unknown

35. “Airplanes were invented by natural selection. Now you can say that intelligent design designs our airplanes of today, but there was no intelligent design really designing those early airplanes. There were probably at least 30,000 different things tried, and when they crash and kill the pilot, don’t try that again.” – Burt Rutan

36. “The airplane became the first World Wide Web, bringing people, languages, ideas, and values together.” — Bill Gates

37. “I know a lot of people in the aviation business, particularly ones who will fly to places where your boots get dirty when you get out of the airplane.” – Erik Prince

38. “All kingdoms look small through an airplane window – little dominions built on quicksand. But looking up from the ground, where most of us stand, they’re rather impressive.” – Steve Rushin

39. “Whenever I dream about flying, it’s the best feeling in the world.” – Kate M

40. “Please get on an airplane or a horse, because it’s pretty spectacular.” – Kelly Ripa

More Airplane quotes and sayings

41. “The flying? I’m not worried about it. I’m safe up there. I feel very comfortable with my abilities flying an airplane.” – Cory Lidle

42. “The thing is helicopters are different from airplanes An airplane by it’s nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or incompetent piloting, it will fly.” – Harry Reasoner

43. “To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. But to fly is everything.” – Otto Lilienthal

44. “I feel sad for those who’re afraid of flying. They’re missing out!” – Unknown

45. “Airplanes may kill you, but they ain’t likely to hurt you.” – Satchel Paige

46. “When I was a very little boy, I lived underneath the air pattern of LaGuardia airport in New York and I watched the planes fly to their destinations. I was in love with the design of these airplanes.” – John Travolta

47. “On airplanes, strangers confide in me the most deepest, darkest secrets. And I think they think I’ll understand. And I generally do understand.” – John Waters

48. “Planes will never have the final, perfect model because their idea is all about the infinity.” – Talismanist Giebra

49. “An entrepreneur is someone who will jump off a cliff and assemble an airplane on the way down.” – Reid Hoffman

50. “There is truly no other place bearing so much love as airports.” – Ioana Cristina Casapu

Airplane quotes for the love of flying

51. “Do you believe in God?” asked the girl once again.

“Yes, I do, I guess. Perhaps more so when I am in trouble. Especially when I am flying in an airplane.”  -Abhaidev

52. “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step…the step taken to climb the ladder which gets you into the airplane…”  -Ankala Subbarao 

53. “To fly Boeing or not to fly Boeing, that is the question.”  -Steven Magee 

54. “The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who… looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space… on the infinite highway of the air.”  -Wilbur Wright 

55. “Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

56. “I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

57. “I think it is a pity to lose the romantic side of flying and simply to accept it as a common means of transport.” -Amy Johnson

58. “More than anything else, the sensation of flying is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost. If you can conceive of such a combination.”  -Wilbur Wright

59. “Everyone has oceans to fly, if they have the heart to do it.  Is it reckless?  Maybe. But what do dreams know of boundaries?” –Amelia Earhart

60. “The good thing about flying solo is it’s never boring.” -Steve Fossett 

Wonderful Quotes about Traveling and Aviation

61. “Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you are.” – Felix Baumgartner

62. “Air travel reminds us who we are. It’s the means by which we recognize ourselves as modern.” — Pico Iyer

63. “Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are willing victims to the spell.” – Ernest K Gann

64. “The way I see it, you can either work for a living or you can fly airplanes. Me, I’d rather fly.” – Len Morgan

65. “Great pilots are made not born…a man may possess good eyesight, sensitive hands, and perfect coordination, but the end result is only fashioned by steady coaching, much practice, and experience.” – Johnnie Johnson

66. “Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.” – Socrates

67. “Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute.” – Gil Stern

68. “You wanna fly, you got to give up the…[stuff] that weighs you down.” – Toni Morrison

69. “Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” – Douglas Adams

70. “You know the oxygen masks on airplanes? I don’t think there’s really any oxygen. I think they’re just to muffle the screams.” – Rita Rudner

Flying and Airplane Quotes to Ponder

71. “A breeze blows up, touching my cheek like a little child’s kiss. It flutters a piece of paper. “Trash, out there? Must belong to one of us.” We move closer, and when I reached for it, I find…… a perfect paper airplane.” ― Ellen Hopkins

72. “And like no other sculpture in the history of art, the dead engine and dead airframe come to life at the touch of a human hand, and join their life with the pilot’s own.” ― Richard Bach

73. “We are in the process of finding out what filling the sky with hundreds of thousands of satellites does to all life on Earth.” ― Steven Magee

74. “Sometimes happiness is like the sound of a plane overhead. You look up to see it but the plane’s not there. No matter where you look you can’t find it on the sky, although the sound is still there and growing louder. You get a little frantic searching. At the same time you’re thinking, this is stupid. But you keep looking and if you do finally see it, you feel absolved. Most of my life I’d been looking for happiness in the wrong parts of the sky.” ― Jonathan Carroll

75. “Perhaps, mites in airplane is just like human on planet.” ― Toba Beta

76. “Pilots have an established history of committing mass murder during their suicides.” ― Steven Magee

77. “One of the greatest inventions of the 20th century — indeed, one of the landmark inventions in the history of the human race — was the work of a couple of young men who had never gone to college and who were just bicycle mechanics in Dayton, Ohio. That part of the United States is often referred to as ‘flyover country’ because it is part of America that the east coast and west coast elites fly over on their way to what they consider more important places. But they are able to fly over it only because of those mechanics in Dayton.” ― Thomas Sowell

78. “This is the way of air travel: fellow passengers applaud because they didn’t die, and then they cut in front of you so they can exit four seconds earlier.” ― Vendela Vida

79. “At the age of 19 years, I left for Santiago de Compostella, even though I did not prefer, waste of energy, by plane.” ― Petra Hermans

80. “I never really gave much thought to the fields while flying over them. It just seems like a whole lot of empty space from above, but I wonder how many half-naked kids you’d see rolling around in them if you zoomed in.” ― George Watsky

Thought-Provoking Airplane Quotes From Steve Magee And Others

81. “Impulsivity is something akin to spontaneously jumping out of an airplane and not realizing that you forgot something until about five seconds before impact.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

82. “I need a seatbelt on an airplane like a hole in the head,” thought Jane, as she smiled back.” ― Chris Nicolaisen

83. “If you sit on an airplane and you tell the English person sitting next to you that you have a bomb in your bag, they would probably be pissed off. Not as much pissed off as if you were talking to them all the time during the journey, but still, quite pissed off.” ― Angela Kiss

84. “Very few people realize that the ionizing radiation levels on a commercial jet airplane at cruising altitude are approximately 28 times higher than ground level.” ― Steven Magee

85. “The astronomical community needs to start acknowledging jet aircraft contrails to be the problem that they really are!” ― Steven Magee

86. “If you have traveled on a jet airplane, then you have had a high powered radiation exposure that you have no genetic adaptation to.” ― Steven Magee

87. “Flying in a modern jet airplane doses humans with levels of radiation comparable to those found in nuclear disaster zones.” ― Steven Magee

88. “When I realized that I could not get the WiFi entertainment system to work on the Boeing 737 Max, my thoughts were: What else is faulty on this airplane?” ― Steven Magee

89. “Flying high with WiFi in the sky.” ― Steven Magee

90. “Go up in an airplane. Go high enough, and it’s like we don’t even exist.” — Muhammad Ali

Airplane Quotes That Will Calm Your Mind While Flying

91. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your stewardess speaking… We regret any inconvenience the sudden cabin movement might have caused. This is due to periodic air pockets we encountered. There’s no reason to be alarmed, and we hope you enjoy the rest of your flight.” — Elaine Dickinson

92. “Strike, listen, and you listen closely: flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes.” — Rex Kramer

93. “I flew single engine fighters in the Air Force, but this plane has four engines. It’s an entirely different kind of flying altogether.” — Ted Striker

94. “The astronomical community needs to start acknowledging jet aircraft contrails to be the problem that they really are!” ― Steven Magee

95. “Don’t run with the crowd; fly with the stars.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo

96. “Soaring in the heavens, away from all civilization, would allow her the freedom she needed to escape from the gravity of what people thought.” ― Kaylin McFarren

97. “Coffee and flying are two pleasures that combine magnificently.” ― A.J. Sky

98. “When I was a little boy, my wish was to be on an airplane. My wish was to get on a plane and fly to the sky.” — J-Hope

99. “To climb into an airplane and motor up by yourself, it is just amazing.” — Guion Bluford

100. “Airplanes are a good place to concentrate because you get no emails, no phone calls.” — Alvin Leung

Funny Airplane Quotes That Will Make You Smile

101. “Airplanes have dulled and desensitized us; we are encumbered, like lovers in a suit of armor.” — Paul Theroux

102. “I’d like to jump out of an airplane, but I’m very scared of that. I will have to do it.” — Cedric Gervais

103. “As soon as I jumped out of the airplane, I realized I had forgotten my parachute. Thank God we were still on the runway.” — Demetri Martin

104. “You might be a redneck if the antenna on your truck is a danger to low flying airplanes.” — Jeff Foxworthy

105. “This is just a hunch, but I bet airplanes think helicopters are assholes.” — Dana Gould

106. “In an effort to look cool, I am going to stop shouting” Hey, you! at airplanes.” — Dana Gould

107. “Cougar jokes are now as hackneyed as airplane food.” — Felipe Esparza

108. “I wish airplanes were more like elementary school with someone up front telling everyone to sit down and shut up.” — Alonzo Bodden

109. “I’d rather have a kid come up to me and tell me that he loves dinosaurs or he loves airplanes or he likes training dogs or I like Shakespeare. I mean, just something.” — Temple Grandin

110. “I wanted the album to be aerodynamic, like an airplane taking off from a runway – all of a sudden you’re in the air.” — Jens Lekman

Airplane Quotes That Will Inspire You To Book a Flight

111. “Can we pretend that airplanes / In the night sky / Are like shooting stars / I could really use a wish right now / And it seems like yesterday it was just a dream / But those days are gone, they’re just memories.” — Jeremy Dussolliet

112. “Airplanes are beautiful, cursed dreams, waiting for the sky to swallow them up.” — Caproni

113. “Never get on an airplane if the pilot is wearing a hat that has more than three pastel colors.” — George Carlin

114. “Touchdown of an airplane was as smooth as arriving at the ground floor in a lift.” — Donald Seaman

115. “I look with amazement upon our audacity in attempting flights with a new and untried machine.” — Orville Wright

116. “Most pilots learn, when they pin on their wings and go out and get in a fighter, especially, that one thing you don’t do, you don’t believe anything anybody tells you about an airplane.” — Chuck Yeager

117. “But remember this, Japanese boy… airplanes are not tools for war. They are not for making money. Airplanes are beautiful dreams. Engineers turn dreams into reality.” — Hayao Miyazaki

118. “Like many air travelers, I am aware that airplanes fly aided by capricious fairies and invisible strings.” — J. Maarten Troost

119. “The modern airplane creates a new geographic dimension … the world is small, the world is one.” — Wendell Willkie

120. “There are no atheists on turbulent airplanes.” — Erica Jong 

Airplane Quotes To Encourage Your Desire To Fly 

121. “Same with anyone who’s been flying for years and loves it still…we’re part of a world we deeply love.” — Richard Bach

122. “That’s the thing about flying: You could talk to someone for hours and never even know his name, share your deepest secrets and then never see them again.” ― Jennifer E. Smith

123. “The exhilaration of flying is too keen, the pleasure too great, for it to be neglected as a sport.” — Wright Brothers

124. “Pilots are drawn to flying because it’s a perfect combination of science, romance, and adventure.” — Charles Lindbergh

125. “It’s only when you’re flying above it that you realize how incredible the Earth really is.” — Philippe Perrin

126. “The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn’t it be?–it is the same the angels breathe.” —  Mark Twain

127. “The airplane is the closest thing to real magic that we have.” — Charles Lindbergh

128. “I have found adventure in flying, in world travel, in business, and even close at hand… Adventure is a state of mind and spirit.” — Jacqueline Cochran

129. “You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen its shadow from the sky.” — Amelia Earhart

130. “Flying is the second best thrill to cheering; it’s like lead without the pencil.” – George Lucas

Airplane Quotes That Capture the Spirit of Flight

131. “To most people, the sky is the limit. To those who love aviation, the sky is home.” — Jerry Crawford

132. “The only thing we have to fear is fear of flying.” — Captain Rex

133. “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” — J.M. Barrie

134. “I was so afraid to fly as a kid but then I learned to fly, and aeronautics and aviation opened up for me.” — Tracy Chapman

135. “Flying is the best possible thing for women.” — Baroness Raymonde

136. “What’s produced the aeroplane is not so much a desire to fly as a rebellion against the tyranny of time and space. And that’s a process that can never stop, no matter how high our Titovs and Glenns may go.” — Northrop Frye

137. “The beauty of an airplane is that you get to be the pilot of your own adventure.” — A.J. Jacobs

138. “In the air, you are free. Every time you take off, it’s a rebirth.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

139. “The airplane is just a bunch of sticks and wires and cloth, a tool for learning about the sky and about what kind of person I am when I fly.” — Richard Bach

140. “The best way to survive a crash is don’t crash.” — Gerald R. Massie

Airplane Quotes to Explore the World of Aviation

141. “If you’re faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible.” — Bob Hoover

142. “The fascination of flight can’t be expressed with words. But it really lies beyond the capabilities of human endeavor.” — Charles Lindbergh

143. “In the space age, the airplane might not only be the symbol of our century but the vehicle that will carry us to see the rest of the universe.” — Louis S. Glanzman

144. “There is no sport equal to that which aviators enjoy while being carried through the air on great white wings.” — Wilbur Wright

145. “The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

146. “Pilots take no special joy in walking. Pilots like flying.” — Neil Armstrong

147. “Flying alone! Nothing gives such a sense of mastery over time and space.” — Charles Lindbergh

148. “I’ve never known an industry that can get into people’s blood the way aviation does.” — Robert Six

149. “When everything seems to be against you, remember that an airplane takes-off against the wind, not with it.” ― Henry Ford

150. “If you clean it up, get analytical, all the subtle joy and emotion you felt in the first place goes flying out the window.” ― Andrew Wyeth

151. “If you can walk away from a landing, it’s a good landing. If you can use the aircraft the next day, it’s an outstanding landing.” ― Chuck Yeager

152. “Aviation is proof that given the will, we have capacity to achieve the impossible.” ― Edward Vernon Rickenbacker

153. “The genius of Leonardo da Vinci imagined a flying machine, but it took the methodical application of science by those two American bicycle mechanics to create it.” ― Bill Gates

154. “Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value.” ― Ferdinand Foch

155. “Anyone who’s not interested in model airplanes must have a screw loose somewhere.” ― Paul MacCready

156. “I was a pilot flying an airplane and it just so happened that where I was flying made what I was doing spying.” ― Francis Gary Power

157. “A fighter without a gun…is like an airplane without a wing.” ― Brigadier General Robin

158. “I’m in the same traffic as everybody else. I’m in the same airplane delay as everybody else. I sit in the same coach seat as everybody else.” ― Bill Gates

Which of these airplane quotes is your favorite?

This list of airplane quotes highlights the power, beauty, and intrigue of aviation.

Airplanes are amazing machines that give human beings the gift of flight.

These inspirational words about airplanes will give you a newfound appreciation for air travel.

The magnificent engineering that has gone into the development of airplanes is astounding.

Some people have a fear of airplanes and a phobia of flying, but these awesome quotes may change your perspective.

Airplanes and flying have changed the way that humans can travel around the world.

The evolution of the modern airplane is one of the most important developments of mankind.

These airplane quotes honor the true blessing of flight.

Share this collection of inspirational quotes with all of the pilots and avid travelers in your life.

And be sure to check out these Wright Brothers quotes!

What are your favorite quotes about airplanes and flying?

Let us know in the comment section below.