The arrival of February was greeted with 38 departures worldwide by 00:05. The first of the month was Los Angeles to Dallas, scheduled to leave at 00:02. My personal favorite was Dash-8-Q400 operator Qazaq Air, flying in the small hours back to Kazakhstan.

American Airlines Boeing 777-223(ER) N790AN (7)
American is still expecting to launch flights to both destinations, but it is waiting for favorable market conditions. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

The first scheduled departure of February

American Airlines had the honor of having the first scheduled departure of February 1st anywhere globally. Flight AA496 from Los Angeles to Dallas was due to go at 00:02, according to information from data experts Cirium. I've previously looked at the last flights of 2021 and the first of 2022 and 'time travel' services.

Importantly, this is chocks-off time – not take-off time, and all times are local. AA496 was today operated by N587UW, a 187-seat A321ceo. It was delivered in August 2014, according to ch-aviation.com. The aircraft had flown from Charlotte to Los Angeles as AA540, with a scheduled arrival time of 21:05 on January 31st, before flying to Texas.

Volaris flight Y45623 was the next scheduled departure at 00:03. It routed from Mexicali, on the Mexico-US border west of Yuma, south to Guadalajara. It deployed N542VL, a 230-seat A321neo delivered in March 2019.

Qazaq Air Dash-8-Q400
Qazaq Air from Novosibirsk to Nur-Sultan is one of 38 departures by 00:05. Photo: Saken Nigma via Flickr.

Stay awareSign up for my weekly new routes newsletter.

36 flights between 00:04 and 00:05

You might be surprised that only two flights worldwide were scheduled to go by 00:03. It's a different picture if the timeframe is extended to 00:05, with 36 departures and some exciting and less discussed examples. Some are true red-eyes, others have short sectors, and others are both.

One of my favorites is Novosibirisk to Nur-Sultan, the Kazakhistan capital, by regional Kazakh operator Qazaq Air. Something is fascinating about turboprops flying in the wee hours, with this example covering 540 miles (869km) and arriving home at 01:05. The flight took nearly two hours.

Another exciting service was planned to depart at 00:05, but it was pulled. Russian carrier Yakutia was to operate a Dash-8-Q300 from Yakutsk (in the deepest Russian Far East) to Belaya Gora, arriving at 02:25. It would then depart Pevek, a tiny Arctic port town, arriving at 05:50). However, the route to Belaya Gora now leaves Yakutsk during the day – and is by the ultra-cool An-24, with a block time of three hours.

Airline

Flight number

From

To

Departure time (local)

Arrival time (local)

Aircraft

A quick look at LATAM's Orlando-Sao Paulo

When writing, a few flights are still in the air. They include American from JFK to Tel Aviv, All Nippon from Los Angeles to Tokyo Haneda, and Cathay between JFK to Hong Kong. About to land is LA631 from Orlando to Sao Paulo, operated by CC-BBH, a 247-seat aircraft delivered in September 2014. It was stored in Abu Dhabi for a year during the height of the pandemic.

LA631 Orlando to Sao Paulo
LA631 en route from Orlando to Guarulhos. Image: RadarBox.com.

Normally a large market

In regular times, Orlando to Brazil is a large market, but it shrunk considerably during 2021 due to closed borders. According to booking data, almost a million passengers flew traveled in 2019, with the market actively targeted by Copa over its Panama City hub. Brazilians are Orlando's third-largest international tourist group and about 30,000 Brazilians live in the city, according to Orlando City Hall.

The LATAM Airlines Group has operated Guarulhos-Orlando non-stop since November 2008, although it was understandably postponed for a long time because of COVID. Following Delta's withdrawal in March 2019, LATAM is the only operator on the airport-pair, although Azul competes indirectly from Campinas. In 2019, LATAM achieved a seat load factor of 89% on the route, according to the USA's T-100 dataset.

Have you left on any flight leaving 00:01-00:05? If so, where did you go and with which airline? Let us know in the comments.