Summary
- Atlanta has 52% of global Boeing 757 passenger flights in August.
- It is entirely because of Delta Air Lines, the world’s largest 757 operator.
- Delta has an average of 151 daily departures from Atlanta on the Boeing type, with 53 destinations seeing it.
In August, more than 130 airports globally will have scheduled passenger Boeing 757 flights. All variants of the characterful 757 will operate just one in 141 narrowbody services globally. It rises to one in 31 in the US as the country has 80% of the world’s 757 flights due to its use by Delta, United, and Icelandair.
Atlanta has over half of the 757 flights
When all 130+ airports are considered, analysis of Cirium data indicates that Atlanta accounts for a staggering 52% of the twin type’s August passenger flights. This is entirely due to Delta, the world’s largest 757 operator.
According to ch-aviation, it still has 121 of them: 105 757-200s and 16 757-300s. They average 26.7 years and were recently refurbished. They’ll be around for perhaps another decade before being replaced. The fact that they’re paid off – meaning no ownership costs, unlike newer alternatives – will be critical.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying
When the 757-200 and 757-300 are combined, Atlanta has a median of 151 daily departures in August (take-offs; double for both ways). Departures have increased by 54% compared to the pre-pandemic August 2019, when they had 98 daily. This contributed to Delta’s Atlanta seats per flight rising from 143 to 165.
Returning to 2024, Newark, which ranks second globally, has a typical 31 daily departures, while Los Angeles International, in third place, has 25. As these figures are averages, half of the month’s days will have more and half fewer. In Atlanta’s case, they range from 119 to a considerable 178. Again, these figures are just take-offs.
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Atlanta’s 757 routes: August
Of the 151 daily departures, 133 are on the 757-200, and 18 are on the 234-seat 757-300. The latter is famed for its high capacity and low unit cost, which hugely dictate where it’s deployed – mainly in high-volume leisure and hub-to-hub markets.
In August, Detroit, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Orlando, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Tampa will all see the 757-300 from Atlanta. While the 300 variant obviously has a higher maximum take-off weight than the 200 (+7%), it offsets this with a much greater maximum payload (+19%). It’s a highly efficient machine for its age.
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When the 200 and 300 are combined, 53 destinations from Atlanta will see them, as the map shows. Anchorage, Bogotá, Bonaire, Bozeman, Guatemala City, Jackson Hole, Orange County, Reno, San Jose (Costa Rica), St Maarten, and St Thomas will be exclusively on the type. The importance of the 757’s take-off performance is evident for some airports with short runways.
Several other destinations, like Miami, Norfolk, Quito, and Richmond, are nearly but not entirely on the 757.
Image: GCMap
They’ll be used as close as Savannah, 186 nautical miles (345 km) away, and as far as Anchorage, at some 2,969 nautical miles (5,499 km). Unsurprisingly, they are Delta’s shortest and longest 757-operated services networkwide in August.
While it might change, six destinations will have fewer than 10 757 departures: Aruba, Bonaire, Liberia (August 3 only), Pensacola, St Lucia, and Providenciales (August 3 only). In contrast, 40 of the 53 will have a minimum daily service on the type.
Five Florida airports – Orlando, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, and Miami – are the 757’s most-served destinations from Atlanta. On a typical August day, 50 departures are to these destinations on this aircraft type alone!