These Are The Longest Domestic Flights At Each Of The US 'Big 3' Legacy Carriers

Last month, using scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Simple Flying took a closer look at the shortest mainline and regional domestic routes operated by each of the ‘big three’ US legacy carriers: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. Some of these were shorter than 100 miles, but, at the other end of the spectrum, the same operators also have domestic flights longer than 4,000 miles.

While the mainland of the United States of America is a huge land mass in its own right, it is the presence of the island state of Hawaii, located far to the west in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that results in such long domestic flights. The longest of these originate in the east of the US, as we shall explore.

American Airlines

Starting with American Airlines, the oneworld founding member’s longest domestic route this December connects Chicago O’Hare (ORD) with Honolulu (HNL). This lengthy internal corridor clocks in at a grand total of 4,244 miles (6,830 km), and American Airlines serves it daily with its Boeing 787-8 widebodies from the Dreamliner family. According to aeroLOPA, these jets have 20 business, 28 premium economy, and 186 economy seats.

Flying from Chicago to Honolulu, passengers can expect a block time of nine hours and 14 minutes, with American Airlines flight AA75 departing Chicago at 10:00 am and landing in Honolulu at 3:14 pm local time. The return leg, AA74, is an overnight affair, with a planned block time of eight hours between its departure from Honolulu at 7:00 pm and its arrival in Chicago at 7:00 am the next day. Commenting on its O’Hare hub, American says that:

“O’Hare has always been a vital hub for American, connecting the Midwest to our global network and bringing travelers from across the world to Chicago for business and pleasure.”

Delta Air Lines

As for Delta Air Lines, the SkyTeam founding member’s longest domestic route this December clocks in at a whopping distance of 4,983 miles (8,019 km). Once again, its destination is Honolulu, but its departure point is located further east than American’s Chicago flights, namely at New York JFK Airport.

From here, Delta Air Lines is flying to and from Honolulu on a nonstop basis five times in the first week of this month, four times in the second week, and daily from December 18 onwards. This amounts to 23 services in each direction, of which 22 will be operated by 216-seat Boeing 767-300ER widebody twinjets. The only exception to this rule came on November 1, when a 282-seat Airbus A330-300 was rostered to this particular rotation.

Flying westbound from New York JFK Airport to Honolulu, Delta Air Lines passengers can expect a block time of 11 hours and 13 minutes, with flight DL636 scheduled to take off at 9:55 am and land at 4:08 pm. The return leg, DL650, is scheduled to take nine hours and 55 minutes, leaving at 5:15 pm and arriving at 8:10 am the next day. Much like American’s Honolulu-Chicago flight, this arrival time makes it ideal for onward connections in the morning.

United Airlines

Last but not least, United Airlines competes with Delta Air Lines on the New York-Honolulu city pair, but flies out of Newark instead of JFK. This facility is located 4,962 miles from Honolulu, and the Star Alliance founding member serves this route with the Boeing 767-400ER. These widebody twinjets have 231 seats onboard, split between 34 in the Polaris business class cabin, 24 premium economy recliners, and 173 economy seats.

Interestingly, the westbound leg of this rotation, UA363 from Newark to Honolulu, features an identical block time of 11 hours and 13 minutes to Delta Air Lines’ competing service from JFK. It departs at 8:00 am and lands at 2:13 pm. Meanwhile, the return takes nine hours and 35 minutes, leaving at 3:45 pm and landing at 6:20 am the next day. United currently serves this route five times a week, but will upgrade to a daily frequency as of December 18.