Midnight Departures: What Will Be The Last And First Flights Of The Year?

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!

Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-432(ER) 835MH (2) — Delta will use the B767-400ER from Los Angeles to JFK, leaving at 23:59 and arriving at 08:28 on January 1st. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

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).

KLM B787-10 — The B787 has three departures at 23:59, two by KLM (using the -10 variant) and one by American (from Santiago; B787-8). Photo: Jounigripen via Flickr.

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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

Frontier Airbus A320neo — Frontier will use the A320neo to Fort Myers, which usually takes just over three hours. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

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.