Which do you think makes the passenger aircraft list? Do you think any widebody does?
This summer, Los Angeles International is the USA’s sixth-busiest domestic airport and the nation’s third-busiest internationally. It has 159,000 departing passenger flights, equivalent to 728 daily (double for both ways). In the first of three Los Angeles articles, I analyzed its top domestic and international routes. In the second, I look at the most popular aircraft used there.
Los Angeles aircraft: a summary
Using Cirium data to examine the California airport’s entire summer schedule (March 26th-October 28th) reveals that the Embraer 175 is the most-used type/variant, although it is neck-and-neck with the A321ceo. This is shown in the table that follows.
Some 70.9% of Los Angeles’ flights are by narrowbody jets (excluding regional jets). Widebodies are next (14.6%), which is not surprising given the airport’s international role and pretty strong use domestically, especially to Honolulu, New York JFK, and Newark. One in 6.8 flights is by a twin-aisle. Then it is regional jets (14.2%) and turboprops (0.3%).
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.
Los Angeles has an average of 2.4 scheduled prop flights a day. They are Southern Airways Express’ Cessna Caravans to El Centro/Imperial and Advanced Air’s Beech 1900s to Merced. Los Angeles has more Caravan departures than the Boeing 747 and A340-300. In terms of the 747, it would, of course, be different if freighters were included.
Click here to see the US’ busiest turboprop airports.
Top 10 passenger aircraft
The most popular passenger aircraft types/variants used by scheduled operators are detailed in the following table. They operate almost three-quarters of Los Angeles’ passenger services.
Photo: Philip Pilosian | Shutterstock.
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Given the dominance of larger narrowbodies and extensive international operations, Los Angeles has the US’ second-highest number of seats per flight (175) for airports with 100,000+ departures. It is behind only Orlando International.
|
Aircraft type/variant |
% of Los Angeles flights |
Avg daily departures* |
Top 3 airlines (by flights) |
Routes^ (top 3 by flights) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
E175 |
12.6% |
93 |
Delta, American, Alaska |
42 (San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento) |
|
A321ceo |
12.5% |
92 |
American, JetBlue, Delta |
35 (JFK, Dallas Fort Worth, Boston) |
|
737-800 |
10.6% |
78 |
Southwest, American, Delta |
67 (Las Vegas, Chicago O’Hare, San Francisco) |
|
737-900 |
9.9% |
73 |
Only 3: United, Delta, Alaska |
45 (Seattle, Houston Intercontinental, Salt Lake City) |
|
A320ceo |
6.7% |
49 |
Spirit, JetBlue, Delta |
62 (San Francisco, Dallas Fort Worth, Austin) |
|
A321neo |
6.6% |
48 |
Only 3: American, Delta, Volaris |
21 (Miami, Philadelphia, Orlando) |
|
737-700 |
6.0% |
44 |
Only 3: Southwest, WestJet, Alaska** |
29 (Las Vegas, Oakland, Denver) |
|
737 MAX 8 |
5.5% |
40 |
Southwest, Air Canada, Aeromexico |
41 (Vancouver, Mexico City, Las Vegas) |
|
A319 |
4.0% |
29 |
Delta, American, United |
43 (San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas) |
|
737 MAX 9 |
2.8% |
20 |
Only 3: United, Alaska, Copa |
36 (Panama City, OGG, Chicago O’Hare) |
|
* Averaged across the whole season |
** Just 7 flights |
^ At least one departure scheduled this summer |
The 777-300ER is the #1 widebody
The 777-300ER, also great for significant freight transportation, is Los Angeles’ 11th most-used aircraft and the top widebody. American, EVA Air, and British Airways are the three primary operators of it. London Heathrow, Los Angeles’ leading international route, sees it the most, then Taipei and Paris CDG.
Are you flying to/from Los Angeles this summer? If so, let us know in the comments.
Source: simpleflying.com
