For the argument between announcers concerning the white and red zones at the airport, the producers hired the same voice artists who had made the real-world announcements at Los Angeles International Airport. At the real airport, the white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only, and there's no stopping in the red zone (except for transit buses). They were also married to each other in real life.
Aeromexico was the only airline to buy the movie for their in-flight entertainment.
The "I gotta get out of here!" scene where a stewardess tries to calm down a hysterical passenger was actually improvised on the spot. The original scene, based on a scene from À l'heure zéro (1957), only called for the stewardess to try to calm her and then another passenger tells the stewardess that he will handle this and then slaps her, with the joke ending there. Lee Bryant, playing the hysterical woman, suggested to the directors that the gag should be extended to bring in other annoyed passengers forming a "slap line." Although they liked the idea, they were hesitant to do it fearing Bryant might get hurt. However, they agreed to try it and even added in props (boxing gloves, tire iron, revolver, etc.) for the passengers. After briefly rehearsing it, they kept it in the movie after one take. According to Bryant, Leslie Nielsen's second slap was not rehearsed or expected and he really hit her, though not intentionally.
Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker chose actors such as Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, and Leslie Nielsen because of their reputation for playing no-nonsense characters. Until this movie, these actors had not done comedy so their "straight-arrow" personas and line delivery made the satire in the movie all the more poignant and funnier. Bridges was initially reluctant to take his role in the movie, but his sons persuaded him to do so.
The doctor role was Leslie Nielsen's first comedic role. He later said he was delighted to get the offer, fearing that he was getting too old for anything but "elderly grandfather" roles. The studio actually wanted to cast Dom DeLuise as the doctor, but directors Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams prevailed. This led to Nielsen gaining a whole new career in wacky comedies, particularly other Zucker Abrahams Zucker productions.
Charlotte Zucker: The woman trying to apply makeup in the movie is David Zucker and Jerry Zucker's actual mother, Charlotte. She would have cameos in the Naked Gun movies as well.
Jimmie 'JJ' Walker: Star of the sitcom Good Times (1974), as the windshield wiper man who falls from the plane after checking the oil. Walker had co-starred in The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979) just the previous year. That same year, in a chance encounter with producer Hawk Koch, Walker was asked if wanted to appear in Airplane! Although he did not take Koch seriously, he was indeed contacted shortly after to play a small walk-on role. Koch thought it was a subtle inside joke about Walker's career decline and appearances in airport disaster films. Walker was reportedly paid $600 for his appearance.
Kitten Natividad: In an interview, she revealed that her uncredited cameo was for the shot showing gelatin dessert wiggling on a tray next to her jiggling breasts. She is not however the nude woman who later jumps in front of the camera when everyone on board is panicking.
Jerry Zucker, David Zucker: appear as the ground crew at the movie's beginning (they are the ones that direct the plane into the window of the terminal).
Jim Abrahams: as the second religious zealot who is pushed aside by Captain Rex Kramer upon his arrival in the Chicago Airport terminal.