A three dimensional finite element method is employed for solution of the transonic full potential equation in mass conservation form. The finite element analysis allows the boundary conditions to be treated in simple and exact manner, without the use of a mapping scheme. The full potential equation is based on the assumption of irrotational flow and density of the fluid is calculated using isentropic relation and it is applicable for upstream local Mach number upto 1.6. The nonlinear full potential equation is reduced to a set of nonlinear algebraic equation using Galerkin’s formulation. An iterative scheme in conjunction with the artificial viscosity term is used to solve the set of algebraic equations. The artificial viscosity term stabilizes the numerical scheme and captures the shock very well. An appropriate grid arrangement is selected in the algorithm to maintain proper and continuous linkage between upstream and downstream of the flow at the centroid of the hexahedral element. The surface pressure distribution in the freestream Mach number range 0.80 - 0.95 and at an angle of incidence 5 degree shows a fairly good agreement with the experimental data. The present finite element discretization can be coupled with the commercially available software.