Summary
- Worldwide, there are more international than domestic passenger flights with the Boeing 767.
- In August, six of the ten most important international flight routes cross the USA.
- Number one is Newark – London Heathrow, with flights on board United Airlines’ 167-seat high-premium configuration.
Although the Boeing 767 is increasingly being replaced by much more fuel-efficient aircraft, it is still in high demand, especially for freighters. The significantly lower operating costs are an advantage. Examination of the OAG data shows that 15,100 round-trip flights were planned with the twin-aisle type in August. The flights will take place with the variants 767-200ER (really!), 767-300 (without Extended Range; only one is operational), 767-300ER and 767-400ER.
Top 10 767 passenger routes: August
Despite considerable domestic use, especially in Japan, more than half of the 767’s passenger flights are international (54%). The USA remains the largest airline, mainly due to the 
Delta Air Lines And 
United Airlines – the world’s two largest operators of 767 passenger aircraft. This is reflected in the top 10 routes of this type, as shown below. LATAM also flies from Lima to Miami.
The Newark to London Heathrow route is by far the busiest international 767 route in the world, with all flights operated by the Star Alliance member’s low-capacity, 167-seat 767-300ERs, which are detailed in the article.
Of course, this configuration is by far United’s lowest capacity two-aisle aircraft. It has less than half the seats of its largest widebody aircraft, the so-called Domestic 777-200, the non-ER variant. Of course, this dictates the premium markets in which the 167-seaters will be used, especially to London Heathrow.
|
International airport pair |
August 2024 outbound flight 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 season |
Azur Air, UTAir |
767-300ER (Azur Air daily up to four times daily), 767-200ER (UTAir daily) |
|
Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow |
93 (three times daily); twice a day 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 |
|
From Lima to Miami |
80 (two to three daily) |
Latin America |
767-300ER |
|
Atlanta to London Heathrow |
62 (twice daily); three daily this winter |
delta |
767-400ER |
|
From New York JFK to Barcelona |
62 (twice daily); Summer season |
delta |
767-300ER |
|
Newark to Naples |
62 (twice daily); Summer season |
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 (mostly twice daily) |
UTAir |
767-200ER* |
|
* Occasionally replaced by the 737-800, according to Flightradar24 |
United’s High-J 767
While many airlines “densified” their aircraft by adding more seats to lower the cost per seat mile and thus offset lower yields (as many continue to do), United bucked the trend. The company retrofitted 24 767-300ERs and reduced the number of seats from 214 to 167.
Photo: Thierry Weber | Shutterstock
The 167-seater aircraft features 46 Polaris suites, 22 Premium Plus lie-flat seats, 43 Economy Plus seats and just 56 Standard Economy seats. The High-J 767 has more Polaris seats than any other type/variant in United’s fleet except the 787-9 (48), a 777-200ER variant (50) and the 777-300ER (60).
United relied on significantly higher unit revenue to offset the higher cost per seat mile that resulted from having far fewer seats (and available seat miles) to spread across sector costs. Having extremely few economy seats to fill contributes to the overall quality of revenue, meaning the company has less to compete for the lower end of the market. It was undoubtedly a bold move, but it seems to have worked.
