Having entered service with Germany's leisure airline Condor 22 years ago in 1999, the B757-300 is still going strong, including with Delta. This winter, the high-capacity narrowbody has a mere 1% of the carrier's total flights. That isn't much, but it's more than the A220-300, B767-400ER, A350-900, A330-200, and A330-900.

Delta's B757-300s

The middle-of-the-market B757-300 is famed for its high capacity and low unit cost. While it obviously has a higher maximum takeoff weight than the smaller B757-200 (7% higher, in fact), it offsets this with a much greater maximum payload (19% higher).

According to ch-aviation.com, there are 55 B757-300s globally, both operational and inactive, precisely the same number as ordered. Delta is one of five airlines to use it and has 16 examples. All are active, and all were inherited from Northwest, just like United's were from Continental.

  1. United: 21 aircraft; average 19.4 years; 234 seats
  2. Delta: 16; average age 18.9 years; 234 seats
  3. Condor: 13; average age 22.4 years; 275 seats
  4. Azur Air Ukraine: three; average age 22.1 years; 265 to 280 seats
  5. Icelandair: two; average age 20.9 years; 225 seats
Delta B757-300s
Only three of Delta's 16 B757-300s are in the air when writing. That's because it's 02:40 on the West Coast. Highlighted is DL331 from Honolulu to Los Angeles, operated today by N585NW, delivered to Northwest in 2002. Image: Radarbox.com.

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Detroit is the best place to see them

Some 17 US airports will see Delta's B757-300s this winter, Cirium shows, with flights up marginally versus winter 2019. With a quarter of flights, Detroit, Delta's second-busiest hub, is the place to see them. Some 12 routes operate from the Michigan airport, predictably led by Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.

Delta B757-300 routes this winter
Detroit has more Delta flights by the B757-300 than any other airport, followed by Orlando, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Atlanta. Some of the 30 routes are severed very infrequently, such as Kona to Seattle (February 26th and March 3rd) and Los Angeles to Minneapolis (January 4th and 5th). Image: GCMap.

Thirty B757-300 routes this winter

Cirium indicates that Delta has 30 B757-300 routes this winter. The top-10 by flights, shown below, have virtually three-quarters (73%) of the total movements. The 957-mile (1,540km) link from Detroit to Orlando is primarily by the type, with up to six daily departures from early March.

  1. Detroit to Orlando
  2. Los Angeles to Honolulu
  3. Detroit to Fort Lauderdale
  4. Minneapolis to Orlando
  5. Fort Myers to Minneapolis
  6. Detroit to Los Angeles
  7. Atlanta to Los Angeles
  8. Detroit to San Francisco
  9. Atlanta to Denver
  10. Detroit to Las Vegas
Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-351 N589NW
Delta is the world's second-largest user of the 'flying pencil'. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

Big use on high-density leisure routes

The B757-300 is an economical machine and is often deployed on relatively short but high-density leisure-driven routes. Delta's use vividly illustrates this, with over seven in every ten flights to/from Florida, Hawaii, or Nevada.

The author has only flown two B757-300s, once with Condor (Larnaca-Frankfurt) and the other with Delta (Atlanta-Fort Myers). Share your experiences of the type by commenting.