United Airlines’ Shortest Routes With The Boeing 737 MAX 8

United Airlines uses its narrowbody Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft for flights throughout North America. Some of United Airlines’ longest flights using its Boeing 737 MAX 8s are flights of more than 3,300 miles between airports on the East Coast and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) in Alaska. While sitting aboard a narrowbody jet for more than seven hours is uncomfortable, United Airlines also deploys its Boeing MAX 8 aircraft on several routes less than 200 miles.

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With that in mind, let’s examine United Airlines’ shortest Boeing 737 MAX routes and see if it makes sense to use an aircraft with seating for 166 passengers on flights that last less than one hour and twenty minutes. Looking at United Airlines’ current fleet of 956 aircraft, the aviation data and statistics website ch-aviation shows that the smallest plane in United’s fleet is the Airbus A319-100, which has 126 seats. Seeing as the Airbus A319 first debuted with SWISS in 1996, the much newer Boeing 737 MAX 8 has a larger capacity and more fuel-efficient engines.

United Airlines’ shortest Boeing 737 MAX 8 routes

Now that we have determined that United Airlines uses its Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets on short, high-density routes, let’s look at the routes in more detail. The routes listed below are ranked from the shortest to the longest based on the number of miles according to the aviation website Cirium.

DEN to COS

Denver International Airport (DEN) to Colorado Springs Airport (COS). Given that Colorado Springs has a population of nearly half a million people and that Denver is the Rocky Mountain state’s gateway to the rest of the nation and for international flights, it is unsurprising that DEN and COS have 11 nonstop daily flights in each direction. The distance between Denver and Colorado Springs is just 72 miles, a flight time of 54 minutes, 21 minutes of which is spent taxiing.

ORD to MSN

Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Dane County Regional Airport (MSN). Again, this is similar to DEN and COS, yet in different states, the nearly 300,000 Madison, Wisconsin residents would fly to ORD to connect with the rest of the world. The flight time between ORD and MSN is one hour and five minutes, including taxiing time. United Airlines offers five flights per day in each direction on the 109-mile route.

GRR to ORD

Photo: United Airlines

Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD). With a metropolitan area population of slightly more than a million people, residents of Grand Rapids, Michigan, have a choice of two international airports: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) and Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in Illinois. United Airlines connects GRR and ORD with six daily flights in each direction, with the 137-mile flight taking one hour, including time spent taxiing.

IAH to AUS

George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) to Austin–Bergstrom International Airport (AUS). Again, like the examples above, the nearly a million residents of Austin, Texas, would fly to Houston to connect on domestic and international flights. United Airlines offers eight flights per day in each direction, with the 140-mile journey taking around 50 minutes, including taxiing time.

ORD to IND

Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Indianapolis International Airport (IND). Although IND is a large airport serving just over two million people, if you want to fly overseas, excluding Allegiant Air flights to the Caribbean, you must fly to an airport like ORD first. The distance between IND and ORD is 177 miles, with a flight time of around one hour, which includes taxiing. United Airlines offers eight flights per day in each direction.

IAH to SAT

George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) to San Antonio International Airport (SAT). Similar to how people living in Austin connect through IAH the 1.4 million people who call San Antonio home use IAH to connect with the rest of the world. The distance between IAH and SAT is 191 miles, with a flight time of around one hour, including time spent taxiing. United Airlines connects IAH with SAT, offering eight daily flights in each direction.

SFO to RNO

Photo: United Airlines

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Reno–Tahoe International Airport (RNO). The SFO to RNO route serves two purposes. It provides Bay Area residents with a convenient way to get to Reno’s casinos and Lake Tahoe’s ski resorts. For residents of Reno and Lake Tahoe, SFO provides a gateway to the world. The 192-mile flight takes just over an hour, including taxiing. United Airlines offers three daily flights in each direction.

ERW to BOS

Newark Liberty International Airport (ERW) to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). Unlike some of the airport pairings above, ERW and BOS are big international airports serving a large population. Boston is a Delta Air Lines and JetBlue hub, connecting BOS with LaGuardia Airport (LGA). With United Airlines using EWR as its preferred New York City airport, it is the airport of choice for flights between Boston and New York. Both EWR and BOS are located on the northeast coast of the United States and are close to the Atlantic Ocean 200 miles apart. The flight time between EWR and BOS is around one hour and sixteen minutes, including time spent taxiing. United Airlines offers nine daily flights in each direction between EWR and BOS.

United Airlines has 87 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft

According to ch-aviation, United Airlines currently has 87 Boeing 737 MAX 8s in its fleet, with an average age of two years. The Chicago-headquartered airline has a further 39 Boeing 737 MAX 8s on order with the Seattle plane maker, showing that it is committed to having Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in its fleet.

United Airlines has its Boeing 737 MAX 8s configured in three classes of service.

First Class

On its Boeing 737 MAX 8s, United Airlines has 16 first-class recliner seats, taking up the first four rows in a 2+2 configuration. Offering roughly 37 inches of pitch, the seats to avoid are the four front-row bulkhead ones. The reason is that the inflight entertainment screen is fixed to the wall and that the seat belt has a built-in airbag that can become uncomfortable on long flights.

Economy Plus

In its Economy Plus cabin, United Airlines has 54 seats in a 3+3 configuration. The seats take up nine rows and have an additional four inches of pitch compared to the seats in regular economy. If you like looking out of the window during the flight, avoid sitting in row 11.

Economy

United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8s have 96 regular economy seats in the 3+3 layout. The seats to avoid are in the last row (38) due to a limited amount of recline.

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