What US airports have the most MAX flights this month? And what are the USA’s longest MAX routes? Find out here.
This November, there are about 31,000 Boeing 737 MAX flights to, from, and within the USA, with up to 1,088 departures a day. That’s a finding based on analyzing the latest schedules information from Cirium.
15 MAX airlines
When US and foreign MAX users are combined, 15 carriers deploy the type. Perhaps the most exotic is Fiji Airways to Honolulu from Nadi, one nonstop and one via Apia. Also, Cayman Airways, whose US network now includes Grand Cayman to Los Angeles, 2,487 miles (4,002km) apart.
But with 109 MAX 8s, it should be no surprise that Southwest has almost one in every two US services, with the top ten carriers shown below. They include Flair, whose MAXs operate 16 US routes this month, even including a Fort McMurry-Tucson service that starts on November 30th. It’ll run 2x weekly through the winter for snowbirds.
| Rank | Airline | US MAX flights: November |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southwest | 16,185 |
| 2 | United | 6,581 |
| 3 | American | 3,119 |
| 4 | Alaska | 2,747 |
| 5 | Air Canada | 669 |
| 6 | WestJet | 323 |
| 7 | Icelandair | 219 |
| 8 | Copa | 181 |
| 9 | Flair | 179 |
| 10 | Caribbean Airlines | 152 |
Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying.
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The top US MAX airports are…
Some 113 US airports have MAX flights this month, a handful on a very limited basis. At the other extreme, Miami has more MAX services than any other airport, because of American Airlines, the breadth of MAX users serving the airport, and the type’s significant network.
The top ten airports, shown below, are collectively responsible for more than one in every two and a half of the country’s MAX flights:
| Rank | US airport | MAX flights: November | MAX airlines | Airlines (ordered by flights) | MAX destinations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miami | 1,996 | 9 | American, United, Southwest, Copa, Cayman Airwyas, Caribbean, GOL, Alaska, Air Canada | 62 |
| 2 | Newark | 1,505 | 5 | United, Alaska, American, Air Canada, Icelandair | 40 |
| 3 | Las Vegas | 1,443 | 8 | Southwest, United, American, Air Canada, WestJet, Flair, Alaska, SWOOP | 53 |
| 4 | Denver | 1,367 | 4 | Southwest, United, Alaska, American | 65 |
| 5 | Honolulu | 1,276 | 5 | Southwest, Alaska, Air Canada, WestJet, Fiji Airways | 18 |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 1,183 | 9 | Southwest, United, Air Canada, Alaska, Aeromexico, Copa, WestJet, Flair, Cayman Airways | 42 |
| 7 | Phoenix | 1,133 | 6 | Southwest, United, American, Alaska, WestJet, Air Canada | 50 |
| 8 | San Francisco | 1,060 | 8 | United, Alaska, Air Canada, American, Southwest, Copa, Flair, WestJet | 30 |
| 9 | Seattle | 1,055 | 5 | Alaska, United, Southwest, Icelandair (just one MAX flight this month) | 49 |
| 10 | New York JFK | 906 | 8 | American, Alaska, Caribbean Airlines, Aeromexico, Icelandair, Flair, Cayman Airways, WestJet (one MAX flight this month) | 26 |
Assuming long-haul is any route 3,000 miles (4,828km) or more, the ten longest nonstop MAX flights touching the US are as summarized below. I like the apt reference to ‘738’ in number two:
Note that Icelandair won’t operate the MAX on Keflavik-Seattle – in that direction – this month as the 767-300ER has replaced it. The MAX last operated on October 31st, and because of the distance and number of time zones, it remained overnight in Washington State, leaving for home mid-afternoon on November 1st. That’s to connect to numerous European flights early the next morning.
What is the longest MAX route you’ve flown? Let us know in the comments.