Have you ever wondered about the last flights of 2021 and the first flights of 2022? Wonder no longer, with 32 leaving at 23:59 on December 31st and three at 00:01 on January 1st. Traveling from one year to the next must be surreal, like arriving before you leave or crossing the international date line, losing a day as you progress across the Pacific from North America to parts of Asia or Australasia. Happy New Year!
The last departures of 2021
Some 32 flights are due to leave at 23:59 on December 31st, one minute before fireworks go off in whatever city they’re in. They’re detailed in the following table and based on data from OAG. Of course, this is pushback time, with wheels up time inevitably at some point in the new year.
A chunk of flights that leave at this time benefit from meaningful time zone differences, with the destination often two+ hours ahead with a good median distance (2,382 miles, 3,833km). Of course, combining less time zone change and relatively short flights is especially problematic.
| Airline | From | To | Departure time (local) | Arrival time (local) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Kahului | Anchorage | 23:59 | 06:59 |
| Alaska | Kona | Seattle | 23:59 | 07:52 |
| American | Honolulu | Phoenix | 23:59 | 08:45 |
| American | Lihue | Phoenix | 23:59 | 08:50 |
| American | New York JFK | Tel Aviv | 23:59 | 17:15 |
| American | Santiago (Chile) | Dallas DFW | 23:59 | 06:44 |
| Delta | Las Vegas | Atlanta | 23:59 | 06:40 |
| Delta | Los Angeles | Guatemala City | 23:59 | 06:44 |
| Delta | Los Angeles | New York JFK | 23:59 | 08:28 |
| Delta | Los Angeles | San Salvador | 23:59 | 07:04 |
| JetBlue | Albuquerque | New York JFK | 23:59 | 05:52 |
| JetBlue | Bogota | New York JFK | 23:59 | 05:49 |
| JetBlue | Denver | New York JFK | 23:59 | 05:37 |
| JetBlue | Los Angeles | New York JFK | 23:59 | 08:26 |
| JetBlue | New York JFK | Aguadilla | 23:59 | 04:38 |
| JetBlue | New York JFK | Ponce | 23:59 | 04:48 |
| JetBlue | New York JFK | Santiago (Dominican Republic) | 23:59 | 04:37 |
| JetBlue | Newark | Santo Domingo | 23:59 | 04:35 |
| JetBlue | Phoenix | Newark | 23:59 | 06:25 |
| JetBlue | Seattle | Fort Lauderdale | 23:59 | 08:37 |
| KLM | Dar Es Salaam | Amsterdam | 23:59 | 07:15 |
| KLM | Nairobi | Amsterdam | 23:59 | 06:25 |
| Spirit | Las Vegas | Cleveland | 23:59 | 06:55 |
| Spirit | Lima | Fort Lauderdale | 23:59 | 05:50 |
| Sun Country | Las Vegas | Minneapolis | 23:59 | 04:55 |
| Thai Airways | Bangkok BKK | Osaka KIX | 23:59 | 07:20 |
| Thai Airways | Phuket | London Heathrow | 23:59 | 06:20 |
| United | Hilo | Los Angeles | 23:59 | 07:12 |
| United | Los Angeles | Houston IAH | 23:59 | 05:11 |
| United | Portland | Houston IAH | 23:59 | 06:05 |
| United | Seattle | Houston IAH | 23:59 | 06:18 |
| Viva | Medellin | Mexico City | 23:59 | 03:29 |
Especially ‘bad’ timings
Potential extreme red-eyes include Sun Country from Las Vegas to Minneapolis, the shortest by both distance (1,299 miles, 2,091km) and block time (two hours and fifty-six minutes). Routes from New York to the Caribbean (driven by visiting friends and relatives demand) also fall into this category.
But perhaps the ‘worst’ (as highly subjective as this is) is Viva’s Medellín to Mexico City, arriving at the ungodly hour of 03:29, one hour behind the time in Colombia. The schedule is probably partly because of Mexico City’s chronic slot problem. It’s somehow less ‘bad’ if the only direct competition has very similar times (Aeroméxico, 01:10-04:40).
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The first departures of 2022
Three flights are due to leave at 00:01 on January 1st, as shown below, with all times local. However, while the first two are bookable, there’s uncertainty about whether Iraq’s UR Airlines will go. Its website isn’t working, and previous flights don’t show up as flown on Flightradar24 or RadarBox.com. If it does run, it’ll use the B737-400 on the short, 271-mile (436km) link, with Iraq time one hour behind Armenia.
- Frontier: Denver to Fort Myers, 00:01-05:40
- Pakistan International: Peshawar to Al Ain, 00:01-02:30
- UR Airlines: Yerevan to Erbil, 00:01-00:30
32 others leave by 00:05
Volaris will leave JFK at 00:02 and arrive Guadalajara at 04:59, while the same carrier will depart Ciudad Juárez at 00:04 bound for Mexico City, arriving 03:24. (Funnily enough, I have been to the three Mexican airports mentioned here.)
A further 30 will go at 00:05, including American from Rio to Miami, IndiGo from Goa to Amritsar, and WestJet from Calgary to Punta Cana. My personal favorite is Pobeda from Perm to Moscow Vnukovo. Thanks to two time zone changes and a relatively short flight, it leaves at 00:05 on New Year’s Day and arrives back at 23:55 on New Year’s Eve.
Have you ever been on a flight scheduled to go at 23:59 or 00:01? Let us know in the comments.