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).
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.
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.