Summary
- Qantas’ Brisbane to Los Angeles route is the USA’s—and the world’s—longest non-stop Airbus A330 service.
- The Australian flag carrier has used the type there since 2022.
- Delta Air Lines appears three times on the longest list, including with its new non-stop Seattle-Taipei link.
Nearly 30 scheduled passenger airlines use the Airbus A330 to, from, or within the US. The A330-200, A330-300, and A330-900 all feature, while the unpopular A330-800 was flown there until October 2023. A330 operators include Azores Airlines, which uses a wet-leased Plus Ultra A330-200 to Boston, JFK, and Oakland.
Unsurprisingly,
Delta Air Lines
has by far the highest number of US A330 flights. Ch-aviation shows it has 72 A330ceos/neos, its largest widebody subfleet. Next is Hawaiian Airlines, followed by Aer Lingus, Virgin Atlantic, Iberia, SWISS, SAS, Air Canada, ITA Airways, and Azul. In 11th place is Discover Airlines, which seems set to begin the first-ever Frankfurt-Nashville flights next year.
The USA’s longest A330 routes
They are shown below. Qantas from Brisbane to Los Angeles is the USA’s longest A330 service; more on that below. As a simple comparison, it is notable that the South Korean carrier T’Way’s brand-new Seoul-Paris route, which covers 5,730 nautical miles (10,612 km) each way due to avoiding Russian airspace, is not far off the USA’s longest link.
Photo: GingChen I Shutterstock
The information is for September-February and may change. Distances are based on the Great Circle. As some routes have very similar distances, the order may change based on real-world operations.
|
Nautical miles (km) |
Airport pair |
Airline |
Comments (September-February) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
6,223 (11,525) |
Brisbane-Los Angeles |
Qantas |
A330-200 only. Daily year-round |
|
5,522 (10,226) |
Rome Fiumicino-Los Angeles |
ITA Airways |
A330-900, although minimal overall use. The A350-900 is also flown in September/October and again from March 2025 |
|
5,444 (10,081) |
Rome Fiumicino-San Francisco |
ITA Airways |
A330-900 summer seasonal. Flown until October 26 and returns on March 1, 2025. The A350 is also used in September/October. The route began in July 2023 |
|
5,278 (9,775) |
Seattle-Taipei |
Delta |
A330-900 only. Daily year-round. The non-stop route started in June 2024 |
|
5,235 (9,696) |
Barcelona-Los Angeles |
Level |
A330-200 only. Year-round. Daily in September, down to five/six weekly in October, and three times weekly in winter |
|
5,198 (9,626) |
Minneapolis-Tokyo Haneda |
Delta |
A330-900 only. Daily year-round |
|
5,188 (9,608) |
Barcelona-San Francisco |
Level |
A330-200 only. The summer seasonal route ends on October 26 and returns on March 30, 2025 |
|
5,079 (9,406) |
Madrid-Los Angeles |
Iberia |
A330-200 replaces the A350-900 on October 27. Three times weekly through the winter |
|
5,078 (9,404) |
Atlanta-Lagos |
Delta |
A330-200 only. Daily year-round |
|
5,050 (9,352) |
Madrid-San Francisco |
Iberia |
A330-200; the last service is on October 8. The summer seasonal route will use the A350-900 on October 3, 5, 10, and 12 before ending. Returns on May 1, 2025, when the A330 will be flown |
The world’s longest non-stop A330 flight
Qantas has used the A330-200 between Brisbane and Los Angeles since 2022. The 234-seat layout, one of three, is deployed; Qantas calls it ‘international long-range plus‘. There are 26 business seats and 208 in economy; I like the 2-4-2 layout in economy. Until 2018, the route was on Qantas’ 364-seat Boeing 747-400s (all since retired), after which it switched to the 236-seat 787-9.
Image: Qantas
What is the current schedule?
Running daily, QF15 currently leaves the Queensland capital (where I used to live) at 22:00 and arrives in California at 18:30 local time the same day. Returning, QF16 departs at 21:15 and arrives home at the fun time of 05:00+2. According to Flightradar24, the flight back to Australia (which has headwinds) usually takes about 14 hours, around an hour longer than the outbound leg.
The A330-200 vs. the 767-300ER
Comparing the A330-200 to the 767-300ER is a tad unfair. The A330 variant is heavier, can carry more payload, and has a longer range. Nonetheless, it is notable that the 10th-ranked A330 route, Madrid-San Francisco, covers a greater distance than the world’s longest scheduled passenger 767 flight.