Having entered service with Germany's leisure airline Condor in 1999, the B757-300 is still going strong 22 years later – including with United, the world's largest user of the type. This week, United has increased flights by the 'flying pencil', with March 2022 set to be the second-best March yet.

United's B757-300s

United has 21 of the so-called 'middle-of-the-road' B757-300s, more than Delta (16), Condor (13), Azur Air Ukraine (three), and Icelandair (two). At 19.3 years, United's examples are older than the carrier's average (16.6 years) due to so many new aircraft introduced in recent times.

United reconfigured its B757-300s in 2018 to improve the hard product and to increase seats to 234. This enabled the variant – already known for high capacity and low unit costs – to become an even more competitive machine. Precisely what is needed for relatively short high-density routes, which is where United typically deploys its B757-300s.

Currently, only 19 of United's 21 B757-300s are operational, according to ch-aviation.com. Those not active are N57869 (delivered to ATA in 2002 and then used by Continental) and N57870 (delivered to ATA in 2003 and then used by Continental). All of United's -300s are ex-Continental.

Continental_Airlines_Boeing_757-300_IwelumoContinental_Airlines_Boeing_757-300_Iwelumo
Nicely showing the length of the -300 is N75851, when it was used by Continental. It is in active service with United using the same registration. Photo: Ken Iwelumo via Flickr.

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United adds 1,107 B757-300 flights for March

This week, United has added 1,107 B757-300 flights for March, based on analyzing the latest available schedules information via Cirium. The variant is now down to operate 1,700 take-offs and landings, up from just 593 last week. Don't get too excited: this 'increase' was planned and is more or less just a continuation of its regular -300 operations.

That said, almost all the rest of United's fleet have seen March flights cut. These include the B757-200, with 319 fewer flights now scheduled, a fall of 11% week over week. As United's March schedule is still not finalized, there are likely to be further changes system-wide.

Assuming all 1,700 flights happen, the carrier will surpass the number in March 2019 (by three flights!). Only March 2016 would have had more (1,803), Cirium shows. At the moment, Delta has scheduled 1,441 B757-300 movements, although it too may increase.

United's use of its B757-300s
This coming March is set to be the second best yet. Source of data: Cirium.

The B757-300 in March

Come March, the large narrowbody is expected to be deployed on the following United routes. As ever, it's all about hub-to-hub and leisure routes, with Chicago to Denver the core route. There are very few surprises.

  • Chicago to Denver: 259 take-offs and landings by the B757-300 in March
  • Chicago to Los Angeles: 237
  • Denver to San Francisco: 186
  • Chicago to Orlando: 208
  • Denver to Houston: 160
  • Honolulu to San Francisco: 113
  • Chicago to San Francisco: 107
  • Orlando to Washington: 107
  • Honolulu to Los Angeles: 81
  • Denver to Los Angeles: 52
  • Los Angeles to Washington: 52
  • Orlando to San Francisco: 52
  • Houston to Los Angeles: 52
  • Denver to Orlando: 6
  • Denver to Boston: 3
United's March 2022 B757-300 network
United's B757-300 network in March 2022. Image: GCMap.

However, multiple routes have seen considerable growth versus February, partly as the summer season comes into force at the end of the month. Key standouts include Chicago-Los Angeles, with 81 additional B757-300 flights in March over February; Chicago-Denver with 73, and Denver-Houston with 70.

What are your best memories of flying this middle-of-the-road aircraft? Let us know in the comments.