In the current widebody generation, there exist no two aircraft specializing in the long-haul than the 787 and A350. Designed for range, massive amounts of infrastructure have been designed into the widebody aircraft simply to carry the fuel it will need seven hours after takeoff.

How much infrastructure is added to these aircraft? Compare the 787-8 and A321neo today. Even though the 787 can fit 46% more passengers in comparable highest-density configurations, its empty weight remains heavier by over 140%. (Max passenger counts used to avoid typical differences in cabin layouts. Apples to apples, you can jam up to 351 unsuspecting leisure fliers in a 787 and 244 into an A321neo.)

Put another way, the 787 can carry half again as many people as the A321 but weighs two-and-a-half times as much.

Considered as an empty weight per passenger metric, the 787 infrastructure brings at least 755 pounds per passenger to leave the ground, while the A321neo does the “same” with 451 pounds per passenger.

When is the same not the “same”? When one flies 2,500 miles further.

At maximum payload, the 787-8 will fly 5,500 nautical miles, stretching to a capability of almost 9,500 at in lighter configurations. The A321neo (LR version) can handle just over 3,000 nm full, stretching only to 4,000 miles in lighter configurations.

Structure, weight, design, and even additional fuel burn were added to the long-haul twin-aisle aircraft simply to carry the additional structure, weight, and fuel. Range is expensive, both from a cost and a design standpoint. If you need an airplane to go 6,000+ miles, it’s going to be expensive.

If the 787 and A350 are such a long-haul specialist, why, then, are they used on so many short-haul flights?

The most common stage length for a 787 or A350 departure is 500-1,000 miles. Consider this for a moment. More 787 and A350 aircraft depart on 500-1,000 mile sectors than on any other 500-mile sector.

But that’s not average, that’s the most common bucket. If you remember back to high school statistics, think mode, not mean.

But why use such a long-haul specialist on such short-haul flights?

Behold the power of scheduling.

Aircraft built for long-haul services have a problem. There, literally, are not enough hours in the day.

Consider United flights 801 and 802. The United 787 departs LAX at 10:20 a.m. and arrives in Hong Kong at 4:45 p.m. That same airplane likely turns for LAX just over two hours later, at 6:55 p.m. It then lands back in LAX at 5:30 p.m.

Cool. Now what? Oversimplifying things and assuming the aircraft remains on the route, it would have nothing to do for almost 17 hours before its next departure at 10:20 a.m. the next morning.

The aircraft couldn’t complete two additional 7,300-mile flights in the 17 hours, but it could accomplish to additional 1,000-mile flights.

It’s not even as complicated as that example. If you have aircraft flying 14-hour flights, what do you do with the remaining 10 hours?

Hence the short-haul flying on long-haul aircraft. In network planning, this situation is sometimes referred to as a “free airplane.” Why? Because what else are you going to do with it? The aircraft is bought and paid for. Any other flights you can accomplish in the 10 hours effectively uses a “free” airplane.

In reality, complex routings often move widebody aircraft from one region to another to maximize time, or sometimes, the aircraft sits, going through routine maintenance tasks.

Other times, the short flights are scheduled as “tags” to longer flights, hitting two close destinations after a long flight from the origin.

Regardless the reason, short-haul flying on long-haul aircraft is common - very common. Looking at a histogram of departures may lead you to believe they are the primary type of flying accomplished by these widebody aircraft.

But, the real answer emerges in the right chart. The amount of time dedicated to each route changes with distance (until we discover teleportation, anyway). When you consider where the long-haul specialists spend the majority of their time - that’s on long-haul flights.

So, how do you get a free 787 or A350?

You buy one. Use it for the long-haul flying for which it was built, then enjoy a free (yet still expensive) widebody for the short-haul.

Research published this week

We have been in a research publishing frenzy the past week. Here are some of the analyses you may have missed if you’re not a subscriber to Visual Approach Research:

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