Any sort of aircraft rescue is another classic Superman trope, and one which has been used time and time again. In the Adventures of Superman TV show, it was a blimp. In Superman: The Movie, a helicopter. In both Bryan Singer's Superman Returns and John Byrne's classic 1986 Man of Steel (a retelling of Superman origin story), it was a space shuttle. Here, it's a commercial airliner, and so the series is continuing a long standing Superman tradition!