Summary
- In October, Hong Kong to Taipei with Cathay Pacific is the world’s most-served Airbus A350-1000 route.
- Of the world’s top five markets, only Qatar Airways from Doha to Los Angeles is exclusively served by the type.
- Qatar Airways carried more than 27,000 passengers to/from Los Angeles in June.
The world has 90 Airbus A350-1000 routes in October by Air Caraïbes, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, French bee, Qatar Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. Analysis of schedules shows that the type has an average score length of 4,524 miles (7,281 km) this month, longer than the A380 but not quite as long as the Boeing 747. This examination comes soon after Japan Airlines reveals its new first class product ahead of entry into service.
The top five A350-1000 airport pairs
The table below shows the world’s five most-served A350-1000 airport pairs. With triple daily service, Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to Taipei has the most flights. However, it reduces to daily from October 29th, when airlines in the Northern Hemisphere switch to winter schedules, so it would not rank first if November were considered instead.
Photo: Kittikun Yoksap/Shutterstock
Cathay has 18 334-seat A350-1000s, and it is the carrier’s leading type to Taipei. This month, they are joined by the A330-300, 777-300 (non-ER), 777-300ER, A321neo, and, on one occasion, the A350-900.
|
A350-1000 flights: October* |
Broken down… |
Route |
Airline |
Only sees the type in October? |
Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
88 |
Triple daily |
Hong Kong to Taipei |
Cathay Pacific |
No |
Four flights on October 7th (day of writing). Daily from the 29th |
|
63 |
Up to 19 weekly |
London Heathrow to New York JFK |
Virgin Atlantic |
No |
A350 flights vary from zero to four daily |
|
62 |
Double daily |
Doha to Denpasar Bali |
Qatar Airways |
No |
|
|
61 |
Double daily |
Doha to Los Angeles |
Qatar Airways |
Yes |
One flight on the 30th |
|
59 |
Double daily |
London Heathrow to Los Angeles |
British Airways, Virgin Atlantic |
No |
Each carrier has a daily service, but BA pulls the type on the 28th |
|
* Each way |
What about Hong Kong to Singapore?
As you can see, the five routes mentioned above have between 59 and 88 departing flights (double for both ways). With 49, Cathay Pacific to Singapore was not far from being included.
Photo: Airbus
Schedule analysis shows that Singapore is dragged down by the first half of the month. However, from October 15th onwards, A350-1000 flights rise up to 16 weekly, so two to three flights a day, depending on the day. If I had examined the situation from mid-October, it would have had enough flights to have been included.
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Qatar Airways to Los Angeles
Qatar Airways from Doha to Los Angeles is the only top five route to be exclusively by the A350-1000 this month. Despite being 8,306 miles (13,367 km) and in ultra-long-haul territory, it does not quite make the top five non-stop routes in the world list.
Photo: Robin Guess/Shutterstock
With 24 examples and the launch customer, Qatar Airways has more A350-1000s than any other operator. It first deployed the type to Los Angeles in June 2020 amid the pandemic. It has been more or less exclusively by the 327-seat, non-first-class equipment ever since.
According to US DOT T-100 data for June 2023, Qatar Airways carried 27,480 roundtrip Los Angeles passengers, beaten only by New York JFK. Booking data suggests that approximately 77% of passengers transited over Doha. Due to the significant diaspora in Greater LA, Yerevan, Tehran, and Beirut were the three most popular markets.
What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comments.
Sources of information: Cirium, ch-aviation.com, booking data, US DOT T-100