Generally speaking, ULCCs and LCCs aim for flights of between one and two hours, roughly up to about 1,000 miles (1,609km). That's the 'sweet spot' because it helps to increase flights per day, growing passengers, ancillary revenue opportunities from that higher volume, and overall revenue per day. Inevitably, there are numerous exceptions: some flights are much shorter, others far longer.

Until the end of March, Ryanair's average sector length is 799 miles (1,286km), according to Cirium data, a distance that fits nicely within that sweet spot. Indeed, it has more flights blocked at 1h 40m than any other time. But what are Ryanair's longest routes?

Ryanair's 10 longest routes

To answer that question for January 19th to March 25th, i.e., the rest of the northern winter season, I've examined Ryanair's whole schedule using Cirium. The carrier has 30 routes over 2,000 miles (3,219km), including the newly introduced Paris Beauvais-Eliat. However, most involve the extremities of Europe, particularly the Canary Islands, as vividly seen in the table below. The ULCC serves five airports in the Canary Islands and is set to reopen bases this summer at Tenerife South and Lanzarote.

Note that block time includes flight time, taxi time at both airports, and time for short delays. The maximum stated below could be in either direction.

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Warsaw Modlin to Tenerife South

Ryanair serves its longest route 2x weekly. On Mondays, FR6121 departs Poland at 07:05 and arrives in the Canaries at noon local time. After a 35-minute turn, FR6122 leaves and arrives home at 19:25, a long day for the pilots and cabin crew.

Examining Modlin-Tenerife South-Modlin over the past few Mondays using Flightradar24 indicates that operating aircraft then continue to/from Vienna. While it obviously has a different crew, it is unclear if they only operate to/from the Austrian capital. If so, that's a very short and suboptimal shift.

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Four sectors a day

After arriving in Modlin on Mondays at 19:25, FR1574 leaves at 20:15 and arrives in Vienna at 21:35. Returning, FR1573 departs at 22:00 and returns at 23:25. On Mondays, the operating aircraft has a total block time of 14h 30m across four sectors.

That's a great number of hours, well above the typical 12h. However, there are fewer daily passengers, offset by higher sector fare revenue and more ancillary revenue on the long trip to/from Tenerife. It illustrates the balance that must be achieved between multiple factors.

What is the longest Ryanair route you've flown? Let us know in the comments.

• 

  Ryanair

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  FR/RYR

  Airline Type:

  Low-Cost Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Dublin Airport, London Stansted Airport, Milan Bergamo Airport

  Year Founded:

  1985

  Airline Group:

  Ryanair Group

  CEO:

  Eddie Wilson

  Country:

  Ireland