Summary
- 3% of transatlantic flights to Europe operate during the day.
- This peak summer's last arrival time is at 23:45, operated by avianca from Bogotá to Madrid.
- Azores Airlines' low-frequency services account for most of the top 10, benefiting from relatively short stage lengths and fewer time-zone changes.
About 900 daily scheduled passenger flights will depart from the Americas to Europe this coming June-August. Analysis of Cirium data shows that, for obvious reasons, the vast majority (about 97%) operate overnight. However, daytime flights are intriguing.
Latest arrival times in Europe
They are shown in the following table and are based on combining North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. Six of the top 10 are from the US, two from Canada, one from Colombia, and one from São Paulo. Note that:
- It is correct as of January 25th, but timings can and do change, which may alter the order
- Some routes have earlier flights, but the latest is stated
- Istanbul Airport is on the European side of the Bosphorus
- Eight of the 10 specific services listed in the table commenced in 2023 or 2024
The last scheduled arrival of any peak summer day is at the very fun time of 23:45. It is operated by avianca from Bogotá to Madrid, which leaves at 07:00. According to Cirium data, avianca introduced this daytime flight (which has the flight number of AV46) in 2023. It is supplemented by two daily overnight flights.
June-August arrival time in Europe (local)* | Routing | Airline | Aircraft | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
23:45 | Bogotá to Madrid | avianca | 787-8 | Daily |
23:40 | New York JFK to Istanbul | Turkish Airlines | A330-300 | Daily |
23:25 | Toronto to Porto | Azores Airlines | A321neo | Weekly |
23:20 | Toronto to Terceira | Azores Airlines | A321neo | Twice-weekly |
23:20 | JFK to Porto | Azores Airlines | A321neo | Weekly |
23:15 | Toronto to Funchal | Azores Airlines | A321neo | Weekly |
23:15 | Boston to Porto | Azores Airlines | A321neo | Weekly |
23:10 | Boston to Funchal | Azores Airlines | A321neo | Weekly |
23:05 | JFK to Funchal | Azores Airlines | A321neo | Weekly |
22:50 | JFK to Keflavik | Icelandair | 737 MAX 8 | Four to five weekly |
22:45 | São Paulo to Istanbul | Turkish Airlines | A350-900 | Daily |
* As of January 25th |
What about Icelandair?
The Icelandic carrier has had late-evening arrivals in Keflavik for years. As well as JFK, the carrier also operates from Boston, due to land at 21:50 – too early to be included in the table. (In previous years, it had various other US routes that returned late at night.)
As well as point-to-point tourists and those connecting to/from codeshare partner JetBlue's flights in the US, such return flights exist to feed Icelandair's unusual very early or late (depending on your perspective) departures across wider Europe, benefiting from longer stage lengths and time-zone changes.
For example, flights to Berlin, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Helsinki, Munich, and Paris CDG leave Keflavik between 00:15 and 01:10. With a 22:50 arrival from JFK (or 21:50 from Boston), passengers can connect easily, arriving at a mainland airport in the early morning.
Have you been on a daytime transatlantic flight to Europe? Let us know in the comments.