From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishairplaneair‧plane /ˈeəpleɪn $ ˈer-/ noun [countable] American English 
a vehicle that flies through the air and has one or more engines SYN aeroplane British English, planeGRAMMAR: Patterns with airplane• You usually say get on an airplane: As soon as he heard the news he got on an airplane. • You can also say get in an airplane.• You say get off an aeroplane: We got off the airplane in Mexico City.• You usually say that someone is on an airplane: You can’t smoke on an airplane.• You can also say that someone is in an airplane. • You go somewhere by airplane: We usually go by airplane when we visit them.
a vehicle that flies through the air and has one or more engines SYN aeroplane British English, planeGRAMMAR: Patterns with airplane• You usually say get on an airplane: As soon as he heard the news he got on an airplane. • You can also say get in an airplane.• You say get off an aeroplane: We got off the airplane in Mexico City.• You usually say that someone is on an airplane: You can’t smoke on an airplane.• You can also say that someone is in an airplane. • You go somewhere by airplane: We usually go by airplane when we visit them. Examples from the Corpus
airplane• Suddenly it seemed like a long time since people talked about airplanes with anything but dread.• Sabi is to board an airplane for Amsterdam at 3 a. m. Thursday.• None of the surface ships or submarines had the capability of shooting down an airplane.• Last year 1. 3 billion passengers took a flight in an airplane.• Loren Carpenter launches an airplane flight simulator on the screen.• Their idea is to create forests by dropping saplings, packed into dart-shaped containers, from airplanes.• Its airplane manufacturing plants largely are idle. 