Summary
- In September, the Airbus A330-300 is the most-flown passenger aircraft from the US to Europe.
- Boeing aircraft will operate 57.5% of flights, down from before the pandemic.
- Narrowbodies will be on more than one in nine services.
Nearly 40 scheduled passenger airlines have US-Europe flights in September. Operators include the tiny Faroe Islands’ Atlantic Airways, which briefly returns to Stewart in September. Analyzing all carriers’ plans using Cirium data shows they have an estimated 16,947 departures (double for both ways), about 565 daily. Examining aircraft use is enlightening, with 24 aircraft types and variants deployed this month.
Top 10 US-Europe aircraft: September
The table below shows them. The Airbus A330-300—the higher-capacity but lower-range A330ceo variant—is the most used. However, there’s virtually no difference between it and its Boeing alternative, the 777-200ER. The aging pair operates nearly one in four of the flights.
Photo: Davidi Vardi I Shutterstock
The A330-900 is in seventh place despite that model’s first US-Europe flights being in 2019.
Delta Air Lines
is the primary operator. Only one narrowbody type, the A321neo, is featured, with an average of 29 daily flights. No quadjet made the cut. The first was the A380, which was in 15th place, with British Airways, Lufthansa, and British Airways using it.
|
Aircraft |
September US-Europe one-way flights |
% of flights |
Top three operators (by services) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
A330-300 |
2,022 (avg. 67 daily) |
11.9% |
Delta, Aer Lingus, SWISS |
|
777-200ER |
1,997 (avg. 67 daily) |
11.8% |
American, United, British Airways |
|
787-9 |
1,649 (avg. 55 daily) |
9.7% |
American, Turkish, Virgin |
|
767-300ER |
1,430 (avg. 48 daily) |
8.4% |
United, Delta, Icelandair |
|
777-300ER |
1,374 (avg. 46 daily) |
8.1% |
British Airways, American, Air France |
|
A350-900 |
1,234 (avg. 41 daily) |
7.3% |
Air France, Delta, Lufthansa |
|
A330-900 |
1,054 (avg. 35 daily) |
6.2% |
Delta, Condor, Virgin |
|
A321neo* |
868 (avg. 29 daily) |
5.1% |
JetBlue, Aer Lingus, TAP Air Portugal |
|
787-8 |
866 (avg. 29 daily) |
5.1% |
American, United, British Airways |
|
A330-200 |
818 (avg. 27 daily) |
4.8% |
Iberia, Delta, ITA Airways |
|
* Mainly the LR, of course |
Who ‘wins’: Airbus or Boeing?
When all 24 types and variants are considered, Boeing aircraft are due to operate 325 of the 565 daily services (57.5%), with Airbus having 240 (42.5%). Yet, funnily enough, the pair both have five aircraft in the top 10 list.
Photo: Kevin Hackert | Shutterstock
Cirium data shows that Boeing’s dominance has fallen by 7.7 percentage points compared to before the pandemic in September 2019. A substantial reduction in 747-400 and 767- 300ER flights did not help, and there were only relatively small increases in 787-9 and 777-300ER services. The 737 MAX was grounded in 2019, impacting figures. At the same time, flights on A350-900s, A330-900s, and A321neos proliferated, helping to narrow the gap.
Quadjet use down massively
Hardly surprisingly, flights on four-engined aircraft have fallen dramatically. It is a natural, technological evolution, reflecting much better economics and the post-COVID environment. In September, quadjets—the A340-300, A340-600, A380, 747-400, 747-8i—will operate an average of just 26 daily one-way flights (4.7% of the total).
Photo: Vytautas Kielaitis | Shutterstock
Generally reflecting much more fuel-efficient twins, deployment has fallen from 70 daily take-offs in September 2019 (13.3% of the total). This was mainly because of the 747-400, the seventh most-used type in that pre-pandemic month, when British Airways, Virgin, Lufthansa, and KLM flew it to the US. The 747-400 is now the least-used equipment in the market, with only Lufthansa deploying passenger aircraft.
What about narrowbodies?
Single-aisle aircraft—the A320neo, A321neo, 737 MAX 8, 737 MAX 9, 757-200, and 757-300—are down to operate more than one in nine September one-way flights (66 daily; 11.7%). Of course, it will not be long before the first A321XLR enters the market, first with Iberia and then Aer Lingus.