The World’s 10 Shortest Flights On 480+ Seat Aircraft

Summary

  • Turkish Airlines has one 492-seat Boeing 777-300ER, which entered service in June 2024.
  • That one aircraft operates half of the 10 routes identified.
  • Also notable is that the list includes the world’s shortest Airbus A380 flight.

Very high-capacity aircraft on short routes are always intriguing. Unsurprisingly, they are uncommon, which only adds to the appeal. New additions rarely make the 10 shortest flights list, but that is what has happened.

Shortest flights with 480+ seat aircraft

Analyzing Cirium and OAG data for August and September shows 515,000+ roundtrip scheduled non-stop widebody flights. A typical twin-aisle service has 308 seats and covers 2,607 nautical miles (4,828 km).

Asiana A380 taking off1

Photo: Vytautas Kielaitis | Shutterstock

Narrowing the focus to departures operated by 480+ seat aircraft shows that the 10 shortest flights based on the Great Circle are as follows. Seven are domestic in Türkiye and Japan, with many infrequent services.

Until 2024, four of the following five Turkish Airlines routes did not have flights on 480+ seat aircraft. They do now because the carrier has TC-LKF, a 492-seat Boeing 777-300ER (shown at the top; see later in the article).

Nautical miles (km)

Route

Airline

August/September flights on 480+ seat aircraft (details may change)*

193 (358)

Istanbul Airport-Izmir

Turkish Airlines

August 13 and 18 on the 492-seat 777-300ER. The first time on 480+ seat aircraft. Get tickets here!

205 (381)

Istanbul Airport-Ankara

Turkish Airlines

August 12 on the 492-seat 777-300ER. The first time on 480+ seat aircraft.

273 (506)

Istanbul Airport-Dalaman

Turkish Airlines

August 2, 4, 9, 16, 18, 23, 25, and 30 on the 492-seat 777-300ER; two departures on August 16. The time on 480+ seat aircraft.

279 (517)

Istanbul Airport-Antalya

Turkish Airlines

August 2, 5, 6, 11, 13, 19, 20, and 27 on the 492-seat 777-300ER

442 (819)

Tokyo Haneda-Sapporo

All Nippon

Up to five daily departures on the 514-seat ‘domestic’ 777-300 (non-ER)

465 (862)

Seoul Incheon-Osaka Kansai

Asiana

August 17, 18, September 14, 15, 17,18, all on the 495-seat A380. The world’s shortest A380 service. Click here to fly!

472 (874)

Dubai-Riyadh

Emirates

Daily A380; capacity varies from 484 to 519 seats

477 (883)

Tokyo Haneda-Fukuoka

All Nippon

Daily to double daily 514-seat 777-300ER (non-ER)

483 (894)

Istanbul Airport-Gaziantep

Turkish Airlines

August 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26, 31, September 2, 7, 9, 14 on the 492-seat 777-300ER. The first time on 480+ seat aircraft. While the route has seen Turkish Airlines’ A310s, A330s, and A340s, it has not had passenger flights on the 777 before

680 (1,260)

Seoul Incheon-Tokyo Narita

Asiana

Daily on the 495-seat A380

* Some of the routes will also have flights on smaller widebodies

A look at TC-LKF

According to Flightradar24, the 17.2-year-old aircraft was initially delivered to Emirates in 2007 and was registered A6-ECB. It had a 428-seat layout and remained with Emirates until 2019.

After reconfiguring to the current 492 seats (14 business, 478 economy), it flew for the Russian leisure carrier Royal Flight (VQ-BGP). It was stored after the Ukraine war started.

Royal Flight 77W

Now registered TC-LKF, it was delivered to Turkish Airlines in April 2024 and entered service on June 9 from Istanbul Airport to Jeddah. It appears to be operating in an all-white livery.

In the last two months, the very high-capacity aircraft has primarily flown to Jeddah, Medinah, and various popular domestic destinations, some of which are huge for tourism. While unconfirmed, TC-LKF may join IndiGo’s fleet. If so, it would join TC-LKD and TC-LKE, both 531-seat 777s.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *