Summary The world has more international passenger Boeing 767 flights than domestic. In August, six of the world's top 10 international routes touch the US. Newark to London Heathrow is number one, with flights aboard United Airlines' 167-seat, high-premium configuration.
While much more fuel-efficient aircraft are increasingly replacing the Boeing 767 , it is still going strong, particularly for freighters; much lower ownership costs help. Examining OAG data shows 15,100 scheduled passenger roundtrip flights on the twin-aisle type in August. Flights are on the 767-200ER (really!), 767-300 (non-Extended Range; just one is operational ), 767-300ER, and 767-400ER variants.
Top 10 passenger 767 routes: August Despite considerable domestic use, primarily in Japan, more than half of 767 passenger flights are international (54%). The US remains critical mainly due to Delta Air Lines and United Airlines – the world's two largest passenger 767 operators. This is reflected in the type's top 10 routes, as shown below.
LATAM also features from Lima to Miami. Newark to London Heathrow is by far the world's most-served international 767 route. All flights are on the Star Alliance member's low-capacity, high-premium, 167-seat 767-300ERs, which are discussed further in the article.
Want to fly? Get tickets here! Of course, the configuration is by far United's lowest-capacity twin-aisle. It has less than half the seats of its largest widebody, the so-called domestic 777-200, the non-ER variant. Naturally, this dictates the high-premium markets in which the 167-seaters are used, particularly to London Heathrow.
International airport pair August 2024 one-way 767-operated flights (daily range) Airline(s) 767 variant(s) Newark to London Heathrow 186 (six daily); seven daily this winter United 767-300ER (167 seats) Moscow Vnukovo to Antalya 116 (two to five daily); summer seasonal Azur Air, UTAir 767-300ER (Azur Air daily to four daily), 767-200ER (UTAir daily) Chicago O'Hare to London Heathrow 93 (triple daily); twice-daily this winter United 767-300ER (167 seats) Tokyo Haneda to Seoul Gimpo 92 (two to four daily) All Nippon (twice-daily), Japan Airlines (zero to twice-daily) 767-300ER Lima to Miami 80 (two to three daily) LATAM 767-300ER Atlanta to London Heathrow 62 (twice-daily); three daily this winter Delta 767-400ER New York JFK to Barcelona 62 (twice-daily); summer seasonal Delta 767-300ER Newark to Naples 62 (twice-daily); summer seasonal United 767-300ER (167 seats) Tokyo Haneda to Shanghai Pudong 62 (twice-daily) All Nippon (daily), Japan Airlines (daily) 767-300ER Moscow Vnukovo to Dushanbe 57 (mainly twice-daily) UTAir 767-200ER* * Occasionally subbed by the 737-800, per Flightradar24 United's high-J 767s While many airlines 'densified' aircraft by adding more seats to reduce seat-mile costs to compensate for lower yields (as many continue to do), United bucked the trend. It retrofitted 24 767-300ERs by cutting the seat count from 214 to 167. The 167-seaters have 46 Polaris suites, 22 Premium Plus recliners, 43 seats in Economy Plus, and just 56 seats in bog-standard economy.
The high-J 767 has more Polaris seats than any other type/variant in United's fleet except the 787-9 (48), one 777-200ER layout (50), and 777-300ER (60). United bet on achieving much higher unit revenue to offset higher seat-mile costs, which resulted from having far fewer seats (and available seat miles) to spread over sector costs. Having extremely few economy seats to fill helps with overall revenue quality, meaning it has less of a need to compete for the lowest end of the market.
It was undoubtedly a bold move, but it appears to have worked..
