Fleet Analysis: Transatlantic Airbus A321 operations
The A321 is becoming the dominant narrowbody aircraft across the Atlantic. According to the latest OAG data, it has approximately 7,238 non-stop departures from Europe to North and South America this summer, running between Mar. 27 and Oct. 29. There are an average of 34 daily outbound flights, double for both directions.
A321 represents five in every 100 departures. While over 7,000 might seem a lot, it means the A321 has a mere 4.7% of the total transatlantic departures planned across every type. Still, the Airbus narrowbody has twice as many departures as the Boeing 757-200 and more still than the most popular 737 MAX variant. That’s despite Air Canada using the Max 8 on more European routes and WestJet expanding service by the variant.
Trans-Atlantic narrowbody departures by type:
- A321: 7,238 summer departures (51.6% of the narrowbody market)
- 757-200: 3,343 (23.8%)
- 737-8 Max: 2,735 (19.5%)
- 737-9 Max: 404 (2.9%)
- 757-300: 293 (2.0%)
Spare a thought for the older Boeing 757, once the mainstay of long-haul narrowbody service from a lack of alternatives. While it has over 3,300 departures, that’s barely 30% of the 11,000 or so it had a decade ago. And it’ll reduce significantly in the next few years as Icelandair replaces its examples with more fuel-efficient alternatives.
This summer, eight airlines have scheduled A321 flights between Europe and North and South America, as detailed below. Canadian leisure airline Air Transat has more than any other, helped in a small way by the inauguration of Québec City to London Gatwick.
Trans-Atlantic narrowbody departures by airline:
- Air Transat: 1,706 (23.6% of A321 departures)
- Aer Lingus: 1,650 (22.8%)
- TAP Air Portugal: 1,599 (22.1%)
- Azores Airlines: 535 (7.4%)
- PLAY: 503 (6.9%)
- La Compagnie: 435 (6.0%)
- JetBlue: 434 (6.0%)
- SAS: 376 (5.2%)
PLAY stands out, with newly announced Orlando joining Baltimore, Boston, and Stewart. And SAS inaugurated its first regular A321LR route, from Copenhagen to Washington, on Feb. 4. A few days later, it confirmed that Toronto would be served from Copenhagen and Stockholm, using the narrowbody. However, it has since pulled the Canadian city, with data not included in the above numbers.
The Airbus A321 is on 63 non-stop planned routes according to OAG, rising to 64 if TAP’s Maceió service, via Natal, is added. But it’s not TAP with the most routes: Air Transat does. It has 26, followed jointly by TAP and Azores Airlines (nine), Aer Lingus (eight), PLAY (four), La Compagnie and SAS (three), and JetBlue (two).
Lisbon to Newark has more departures than any other airport-pair. It is followed in order by Dublin-Washington, Dublin-Toronto, Lisbon-Toronto, Lisbon-Boston, Lisbon-Montréal, London Gatwick-Toronto, Lisbon-Washington, and Paris Orly-Newark. Not surprisingly, Lisbon and Dublin combined have about four in every ten A321 departures across the Atlantic. OAG & simpleflying.com