Thom Jurek of AllMusic gave Paper Airplane four-stars, describing it as melancholy, with songs revolving around themes of trial and perseverance. He also praised the cover versions of "Dimming of the Day" and "My Opening Farewell". He considered the album "polished yet authentic".[4]
Andrew Greer of Christianity Today also honored Paper Airplane with four stars, finding it "an exquisite eleven-song canon," and added: "Though their haunts are heavy-hearted, a tangible hope pervades Airplane, attesting to the band's spiritual sensitivity even without the band's usual faith song standout."[5] The album won Grammys for Best Bluegrass Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.[6]
Paper Airplane sold approximately 83,000 copies during its first week of release, making it Krauss's first number one album on the BillboardTop Country Albums chart.[7] It is also the highest entry for Krauss on the Billboard 200, where it debuted at number three. Raising Sand, Krauss's collaboration with Robert Plant, reached number two on the Billboard 200 upon its release in 2007. In addition to these charts, it also debuted at number one on the BillboardTop Bluegrass Albums and number one on BillboardFolk Albums.[8] The album has sold 384,000 copies in the United States as of November 2016.[9]
Paper Airplane was a minor hit in Europe, debuting in the top forty of several European countries, such as the Norwegian Albums Chart. It became Krauss' most successful album in the UK, reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart (overtaking 2009's compilation Essential Alison Krauss, which reached number 13) and earning a silver certification from the BPI.
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