Summary
- Delta Air Lines leads in the number of flights & capacity on the LAX-JFK route in August.
- JetBlue follows with a high number of flights but lower capacity due to the exclusive use of narrowbody aircraft.
- American Airlines ranks third with fewer flights than JetBlue due to the premium-heavy seat configuration used.
Three carriers, American Airlines, JetBlue, and Delta Air Lines, have flights scheduled between the two most popular cities in the United States, Los Angeles and New York, during the month of August. Last year, the route was accredited as the second-busiest domestic route.
Operationally speaking,
Los Angeles International Airport
(LAX) and
New York JFK Airport
(JFK) act as major gateways to the US on the West and East coasts, respectively. Thus, while the airports see a significant number of premium services for global connectivity, the two airports are also linked domestically, as it is a popular transcontinental route.
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There are shake-ups in the list compared to pre-pandemic levels.
This article will dive into the airline operations of the three carriers on this premium route, which has 876 flights and over 138,740 seats scheduled this month.
Delta takes the top spot
Data from Cirium shows that the Atlanta-based
Delta Air Lines
offers the largest number of flights on this route. Of the 876 flights scheduled on this route, Delta offers 302 flights (34.5%), which equates to 63,341 seats (45.7% of total route capacity).
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Delta has a significantly higher capacity share on this route because a significant portion of the carrier’s operations utilize widebody aircraft, while the other two operators on this route exclusively use narrowbody aircraft. On this premium route, during August, Delta has scheduled to deploy its Boeing 757-200s, Boeing 767-300s and Boeing 767-400s.
|
Aircraft Type |
Number Of Scheduled Flights |
Aircraft Capacity |
|---|---|---|
|
Boeing 757-200 |
33 |
168 to 199 |
|
Boeing 767-300ER |
240 |
211 to 226 |
|
Boeing 767-400ER |
29 |
238 |
The carrier operates up to 10 flights a day, and while the majority of the flights will see the 767-300, passengers who end up on the smaller 757s will still have the chance to try out the Delta One product (albeit a modified version) in certain configurations.
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The product will be available on four of eleven daily flights.
JetBlue comes in second
Just shy of seven flights,
JetBlue
claimed the second-largest share on this route in August, with 295 flights (33.7%) scheduled. However, since the airline does not operate any widebody aircraft, the capacity offered on this route is only 46,941 seats (33.8% of total route capacity).
Photo: Robin Guess | Shutterstock
Overall, the carrier operates up to 10 flights a day, and the airline serves this route exclusively using its fleet of classic Airbus A321s; however, considering this is a premium route, the aircraft used usually feature the JetBlue Mint product in the premium class.
|
Cabin Class |
Capacity |
Configuration |
|---|---|---|
|
Main Cabin |
143 |
3-3 |
|
Mint |
16 |
2-2 / 1-1* |
*The seat configuration alternates on each row.
It is also worth noting that the airline operates a further three transcontinental services to Los Angeles from New York’s other airport –
Newark Liberty International Airport
(EWR).
At EWR, JetBlue faces extreme competition from dominant carriers such as
United Airlines
and
Alaska Airlines
. They also face competition from low-cost carrier, Spirit Airlines.
American in at number three
The third carrier to operate on this route is
American Airlines
, which, despite being short of just 16 flights from JetBlue, offers a considerably lower number of seats. The airline operates the remaining 279 flights (31.8%) scheduled for this month, which accounts for the remaining 28,458 seats (20.5% of total route capacity).
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
While American Airlines also utilizes the A321s on this route, the reason for the significantly lower capacity is that the airline chose to utilize a premium-heavy configuration, including four different cabin classes, including the American Airlines Flagship First and Flagship Business cabins.
|
Cabin Class |
Capacity |
Configuration |
|---|---|---|
|
Flagship First |
10 |
1-1 |
|
Flagship Business |
20 |
2-2 |
|
Main Cabin Extra |
36 |
3-3 |
|
Main Cabin |
36 |
3-3 |
|
Total Seats |
102 |
|
For reference, these aircraft have 57 fewer seats than the A321s used by JetBlue and 88 fewer seats than American Airlines’ standard A321s, which have a total capacity of 190. The carrier operates nine daily flights on this route.