There were 2,328 departures in the same six months last year. Multiple carriers, including Azores Airlines, American Airlines, and Icelandair, have cut such routes. After a very short existence, Delta Air Lines no longer has any of them.
The 13 daytime routes in summer 2025
The following table summarizes them by departure time. They include perhaps the most intriguing transatlantic offering: Air Saint Pierre's wet-leased 148-seat Boeing 737-700 service from Saint Pierre and Miquelon to Paris CDG.
The domestic transatlantic link is subsidized and only runs weekly between June and September. This year, just 11 roundtrip flights are planned.
The reason for the route is unclear. Perhaps it is about tourists visiting from France, the local population visiting the homeland, people working in the fishing industry, or—as is usually the case—a combination.
Unsurprisingly, London Heathrow accounts for nearly eight in 10 flights. Due to so many cuts to mainland European daytime routes, its proportion has increased by 16 percentage points year-on-year. American, British Airways, JetBlue, United, and Virgin Atlantic operate.
Only services that depart from the Americas at 06:00+ and arrive before midnight are included. As several routes have various departure and arrival times, only the most common are included.
Why these flights at all?
They rely on shorter distances, fewer timezone changes, and strong point-to-point demand. However, the latter obviously does not mean they necessarily succeed.
Despite ~1.3 million local passengers a year, Delta's daytime 767-400ER-operated New York JFK-Paris CDG service only existed in the summer of 2024. There is no longer any daytime eastbound flight between the two cities.
All long-haul flights need feed to help with traffic. While the extent varies, all the entries involve connecting passengers, which is particularly significant for Turkish Airlines.
Air Canada benefits from arriving flights from various Canadian cities. US carriers gain passengers from overnight services from the West Coast, international arrivals, and the first departures of the day from a myriad of East Coast airports.
Other less obvious examples include Icelandair's sole day flight, which connects to a handful of European airports that leave Keflavik after midnight, such as Berlin, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Munich, and Paris CDG.
Some passengers may prefer day flights to Europe because they may mean less jetlag, although such travel may mean a day is wasted. For airlines, it may mean lower aircraft use—they must overnight at one end—and lower yields from less interest in beds (if available).
What has been cut vs. last summer?
Examining every flight using Cirium Diio data shows that the following markets or airlines no longer have daytime service to Europe:
- American: Chicago O'Hare to London Heathrow
- Atlantic Airways: Stewart back to the Faroe Islands
- Azores Airlines: Boston back to Funchal, Porto, and Terceira; New York JFK back to Funchal, Porto, and Terceira; Toronto back to Funchal, Porto, and Terceira
- Delta: New York JFK to Paris CDG
- Icelandair: New York JFK back to Keflavik
