Trivia: Smallest plane transatlantic flights?

[Bayum]

Aircraft carriers fly a variety of stock to and from the U.S. From the UK - got it.

What is the smallest plane type that any of the operators use? I'm thinking the sort of planes that you might get a low cost carrier using perhaps.

 

[freetoview33]

The smallest plane that crosses the Atlantic is the A318 British Airways.

 

[AM9]

The smallest plane that crosses the Atlantic is the A318 British Airways.

Yes, they are business class only from LCY to JFK. To take off from LCY they short fuel to Shannon where passengers are cleared into the US so they can land as domestic.

 

[bradders1983]

Yes, they are business class only from LCY to JFK. To take off from LCY they short fuel to Shannon where passengers are cleared into the US so they can land as domestic.

This only happens on one of the two daily flights, the other flight still lands in Shannon but the pre-clearance facility is closed at the time.

 

[WestCoast]

As everyone has said, the smallet commercial one has to be the BA A318 in all business class layout from London City to New York JFK via Shannon (and non-stop in the opposite direction).

It's only specially adapted smaller aircraft that can make the trip, say with extra fuel tanks and a low amount of passengers.

The next smallest aircraft than can take a full load of passengers in two classes without major modification is the narrowbody B757-200, which is flown from Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh etc to the Eastern U.S by United, American Airlines and Delta. It's flown from Luton to New York Newark by La Compagnie in all business class configuration. You also see this type of aircraft with UK low-cost/charter carriers such as Jet2, Thomson and Thomas Cook plying European and North African routes.

If Canada is included, then there's a few others. Air Canada have a two class A319 from Heathrow to St John's and Canadian low-cost airline WestJet operate from Glasgow to Halifax with a B737-700. Due to the shorter distances, the short-haul aircraft can make these routes.

 

[freetoview33]

Although Shannon - New York is still transatlantic so!

But with the 737Max and A320neo we are likely to see more crossing the Atlantic. It will mean the The UK and West Coast of the US and Canada could be served by short/medium haul fleet.

 

[Nippy]

Surely you mean the East Coast of the U.S?

 

[freetoview33]

Surely you mean the East Coast of the U.S?

Yes I did! My bad!
But it does mean New York could easily become an easyJet or Ryanair location.

 

[me123]

I can just see it now - New York (Gander) International Airport. More seriously, I've heard rumours on and off about Long Island MacArthur Airport being the "low cost" international New York airport, should any ultra low-cost carriers wish to try introducing such a service to the US. It seems like a perfect Ryanair airport - 44 miles from its intended destination, minimal other users, public transport links (although they don't really provide a great service to the airport itself). Of course, the big barrier is getting Homeland Security to set up an border control there. Anyway, I digress...

737s transatlantic will definitely become more commonplace with the eventual withdrawal of the 757s, which are of course very commonly used for regional UK service to the US courtesy of United Airlines (previously Continental). Should they wish to continue services to Glasgow, Newcastle, Bristol, Belfast etc, then the 737MAX would likely be their first choice. However, Ryanair have been talking about crossing the pond for some time and they haven't managed it as of yet. I do find Ryanair stories fall into two broad categories - true (in which case we see it come to fruition quickly) or nonsense (like the standing seats, pay-as-you-pee toilets, pay-per-view porn) that never really sees the light of day - I strongly suspect that the transatlantic operation is in the latter category.

 

[freetoview33]

I can just see it now - New York (Gander) International Airport. More seriously, I've heard rumours on and off about Long Island MacArthur Airport being the "low cost" international New York airport, should any ultra low-cost carriers wish to try introducing such a service to the US. It seems like a perfect Ryanair airport - 44 miles from its intended destination, minimal other users, public transport links (although they don't really provide a great service to the airport itself). Of course, the big barrier is getting Homeland Security to set up an border control there. Anyway, I digress...

737s transatlantic will definitely become more commonplace with the eventual withdrawal of the 757s, which are of course very commonly used for regional UK service to the US courtesy of United Airlines (previously Continental). Should they wish to continue services to Glasgow, Newcastle, Bristol, Belfast etc, then the 737MAX would likely be their first choice. However, Ryanair have been talking about crossing the pond for some time and they haven't managed it as of yet. I do find Ryanair stories fall into two broad categories - true (in which case we see it come to fruition quickly) or nonsense (like the standing seats, pay-as-you-pee toilets, pay-per-view porn) that never really sees the light of day - I strongly suspect that the transatlantic operation is in the latter category.

Ryanair are starting to move to more main airports! And there is no Bristol - New York service anymore

 

[WatcherZero]

Suppose the Bombardier C series will be a competitor for smallest transatlantic when it launches.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

I'm flying Madrid to Peru in a LAN 767-300 in November, is this the smallest Europe to South America option?

 

[ghYHZ]

WestJet is also using a 737-700 on the St.John’s to Dublin route. Flightaware is showing it taking as little as 3:47 to cross the pond and can do a round trip in under 11 hours.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/WJA16/history/20150620/0130Z/CYYT/EIDW

Europe Airpost is operating a Halifax-Dublin-Paris 737-700 this summer.

 

[Harlan Cage]

As an aside the DHC 3 Otters from Bombardier make transatlantic trips non stop but with no passengers and an extra fuel tank fitted temporally inside the fuselage for delivery flights to Europe from Canada Skybus use them for some of their services to and from the Isles of Scilly and they are very small aircraft!

HC

 

[button_boxer]

More seriously, I've heard rumours on and off about Long Island MacArthur Airport being the "low cost" international New York airport, should any ultra low-cost carriers wish to try introducing such a service to the US. It seems like a perfect Ryanair airport - 44 miles from its intended destination, minimal other users, public transport links (although they don't really provide a great service to the airport itself). Of course, the big barrier is getting Homeland Security to set up an border control there.

That wouldn't necessarily be required for a flight from Dublin or Shannon if timed for when the pre-clearance facilities are open.

 

[stut]

I'm flying Madrid to Peru in a LAN 767-300 in November, is this the smallest Europe to South America option?

There's a bunch of A330 flights to South America too (TAP from Lisbon to Brazil, Air Caraibes on ORY-CAY, AF on CDG-CCS

If you fly indirectly, TACV operate 738s from Europe to Cabo Verde, and the same onwards to Brazil.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
As a slightly unorthodox route, I have flown the old Gronlandsfly 752 on CPH-SFJ. On the way out, we were treated to a substituted, very tight SAS charter - can't remember the model, but it was a narrowbody. Was before the BU merger, so possibly not Boeing.

 

[jopsuk]

Flights from northern Europe & Scandinavia to the Canaries can be 4-6 hours- almost entirely in budget & charter 737, 757 & 32x. Wide bodies are rare at Tenerife South, pasty (arriving) or burnt-pink (heading home) Brits, Germans, Norwegians, Danes & Swedes aren't!

 

[ghYHZ]

Since this is a trivia post……where do you find a 9 passenger Cessna Rimes F406 flying over the Atlantic in scheduled service between France and Canada??

Below is a photo of Air Saint-Pierre Flight 1125 at Sydney, Nova Scotia…….just arrived after a 44 minute, 188 mile flight from Saint-Pierre & Miquelon.....a Territory "Collectivité" of France located about 20 miles off the southern coast of Newfoundland.

They also fly an ATR-42 to Sydney, Halifax, St. John’s and Montreal.

http://www.airsaintpierre.com/en/

The islands might be in North America but the local currency in the Euro and the wine.....excellent!

http://www.tourisme-saint-pierre-et-miquelon.com/en/
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
There are no direct flights between FSP and CDG but Air St Pierre connects with flights in Montreal. So a passenger first flies 900 miles and 3 hours west just to connect with an Air France flight in Montreal and 6 hours later is again passing over St. Pierre on the way to Paris.

This summer they will also be able to connect through Halifax to Paris on Europe Airpost.

 

[WatcherZero]

The islands might be in North America but the local currency in the Euro and the wine.....excellent!

And cheese doesn't come in squeezable form.

 

[stut]

And cheese doesn't come in squeezable form.

Well, not unless it's perfectly ripe...

<gets crazy with the cheez-whiz>

 

[me123]

And there is no Bristol - New York service anymore

That's quite surprising actually, a big loss for the airport. Still, you can go via Dublin and take advantage of the Pre-Clearence when you transit, so it doesn't make the journey much longer all things considered.

That wouldn't necessarily be required for a flight from Dublin or Shannon if timed for when the pre-clearance facilities are open.

True, but that's only two possible destinations for pre-clearance at the moment. Not a great selection of routes for Ryanair that would make the Transatlantic venture all that worthwhile. Of course, it's likely to be expanded, but very few of the airports in question look likely to be appealing to Ryanair - the only other option I can see realistically happening is Manchester.

Furthermore, I understand that a flight can "lose" its preclearence status after it departs. This could happen if, for example, paramedics are called onto the plane to attend to an unwell passenger prior to take-off, or if the plane touches down in Canada en route. For any other reason, Homeland Security can theoretically re-inspect an aircraft on arrival in the US. As such, I do suspect that you'd need to have DHS present in some form at the airport chosen.

 

[freetoview33]

That's quite surprising actually, a big loss for the airport. Still, you can go via Dublin and take advantage of the Pre-Clearence when you transit, so it doesn't make the journey much longer all things considered.

They are trying to get flights back! And hope to have a Bristol - New York flight in place by next year. The main issue with Bristol is runway length that limits what can be used.

 

[me123]

The main issue with Bristol is runway length that limits what can be used.

True. The 757 was ideal, both in terms of the runway length and probably load factors as well. However, I suppose it means that United are about the only carrier likely to consider Bristol for a transatlantic route, and if they dropped it (or was it their predecessors, Continental?) it might be a hard sell. Here's hoping, though.

 

[stut]

UA seem to be doing EWR-NCL this summer.

Didn't AA run a very short-lived short-haul config 757 service on JFK-NCL a few years back?

 

[freetoview33]

True. The 757 was ideal, both in terms of the runway length and probably load factors as well. However, I suppose it means that United are about the only carrier likely to consider Bristol for a transatlantic route, and if they dropped it (or was it their predecessors, Continental?) it might be a hard sell. Here's hoping, though.

Continental dropped it but since then Bristol has expanded more.

And according to Bristol Airport they can't take A380, 747 or 777. But can take 787 and A350.

767 and A330 have been used at Bristol before. So really it's open to a lot.

 

[0B00]

This only happens on one of the two daily flights, the other flight still lands in Shannon but the pre-clearance facility is closed at the time.

Are there any other UK-USA flights that use 'Pre-Clearance' anywhere before arriving in the USA ?

 

[jopsuk]

As far as I know, no. The City route only really uses it because it has a fuel stop at Shannon- the 318 can't take off from City with a full load of fuel due to the short runway and steep flight path

 

[berneyarms]

Are there any other UK-USA flights that use 'Pre-Clearance' anywhere before arriving in the USA ?

No - just BA001.

Otherwise, you need to fly to either Dublin or Shannon and connect there.

 

[stut]

Manchester's quite keen to put in a preclearance facility as part of its upcoming investment, though.

Or you could travel via AUH...

 

[BananaRepublic]

Manchester's quite keen to put in a preclearance facility as part of its upcoming investment, though.....

More than Manchester just being "keen", it is one of only two UK airports to have been short listed by the the US Department of Homeland Security to house US pre-clearance facilities.
The other is Heathrow, which currently has no plans to introduce these facilities.
Manchester are planning to further these proposals with the US and UK authorities and incorporate the pre-clearance facilities in its airport development plan.