Flying inside Europe with widebodies is possible: the companies, planes used and routes (two even from Italy)
While flying Domestic First in the U.S. means enjoying very wide seats and inflight entertainment on board, there is no particular [...]
Turkish Airlines
Singapore Airlines
Iberia
Finnair
Ethiopian Airlines
Emirates
Austrian Airlines
Air Europa
Star Alliance
SkyTeam
Oneworld
ZRH
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While Flying Domestic First in the U.S. means enjoying very spacious seats and inflight entertainment on board, there is no particular taste in flying in so-called 'euro business,' which usually consists of sitting in the first few rows of the plane, having the seat next to you free and decent onboard catering as far as food and drinks are concerned.
At best, the distance between rows (the so-called 'pitch') is just a little more abundant than in the rows further back, but the width of the seat is exactly the same. This happens because, On intra-European routes, all carriers on the continent almost exclusively use narrow-body, single-aisle aircraft deputized for intra-continental short-haul. It is explained as follows. the popularity that the A321neo that ITA Airways is deploying from Rome on some European routes is having (Amsterdam, Paris and Madrid): there, indeed, Business is that of widebodies, with a 1-1 configuration, the wide seat that converts to a bed, and an inflight entertainment. There is also a Premium economy in the back that is more comfortable, in terms of pitch and seating, than any 'Euro Business' on the continent. And which, like the Economy, also has the entertainment system available.
However, there are some Rare instances where it is possible to fly within Europe in true Business and Economy with inflight entertainment screens: those in which companies, taking advantage of so-called 'fifth freedom' rights, or because they are in a 'familiarization' phase with a new type of airplane or cabins, or because they are taking advantage of hourly faces when their widebodies do not fly long-haul, put their wide-body aircraft on intra-European routes.
From Italy this is possible by flying Singapore Airlines from Milan Malpensa to Barcelona (one and a half hour flight), Ethiopian Airlines from Malpensa to Zurich (one hour flight), and Air Europa, on some of the weekly rotations from Rome Fiumicino to Madrid.
In the first case you board an Airbus A350-900 configured in three classesi (Business, Premium Economy and Economy).
In the second you travel with equipment ranging from the Boeing 787-8 (or 787-9) to the Boeing 777-200LR to the Airbus A350-900; in any case, a wide-body aircraft (with two classes, Business and Economy), even if such a cramped flight time allows very limited enjoyment of the onboard experience offered by a widebody.
In the case of Air Europa, you board the a two-class Boeing 787 (Business and Economy) for the two-hour and 30-minute flight between the Italian and Spanish capitals. The Iberian carrier also uses its Dreamliners to other European cities when these are not 'busy' on its North and South American network.
Ethiopian is the carrier with the most connections between European cities operated regularly with dual-aisle aircraft, taking advantage of the fifth-freedom regime that allows it to also sell tickets for the 'intra-European' portion of the flight, which is the continuation or prologue of a long-haul connection originating from or continuing to Addis Ababa.
In addition to the one between Milan and Zurich, there are those between Stockholm and Oslo (one hour flight time with Boeing 787-8 and -9) and between Geneva and Manchester (one hour and 45 minutes flight time with A350-900).
Emirates connects Larnaca on the island of Cyprus to Malta (two hours and 45 minutes flight time) by Boeing 777-300ER in three classes (First, Business and Economy).
Then there are instances where some companies use widebody aircraft within Europe to familiarize crews with a new aircraft or new cabins. This has been the case in recent weeks with the Lufthansa's A350-900 mounting the Allegris..
And it's happening now with Austrian Airlines, which has just received the first two (of ten) Boeing 787-9s. and that, ahead of their debut on New York on June 15 and Chicago on July 1, will use them from May 17 on one of its daily rotations between its Vienna hub, Frankfurt and Berlin. The 787s are outfitted in three classes with 26 seats in Business, 21 in Premium Economy and 247 in Economy.
By going to the Austrian carrier's website, on May 17, an Economy seat on Vienna-Berlin (one hour and 10 minutes flight time) with 787 is sold at 246 euros, a Business seat at 456 euros (one way). The price of Business is the same as other Vienna-Berlin, operated with A320s and Embraer 195s that mount the classic 'Euro Business' on board.
Finally, it may be the case that some carriers use their widebodies on European routes during 'downtime' when they do not operate intercontinental routes. The company that uses this system the most To implement deployment hours for its long-haul fleet is Turkish Airlines, but Iberia, Finnair and Spain's Air Europa also do the same.
The Turkish company uses its Boeing 777-300ER, its Airbus A330-200 and -300 and also its Airbus A350-900s on several routes in the old continent, including also Milan and Rome.
Iberia uses pe its A330-200s and -300s and its A350-900s mostly to London Heathrow (which like Madrid is a key hub of the Oneworld alliance and where many of Iberia's passengers stopover to Asia, a continent where the Spanish carrier is virtually absent). The A330-200s are in two classes (Business and Economy), the -300s and A350s in three, including a Premium Economy cabin.
And also Finnair often uses its A350-900s to cover the Helsinki-London Heathrow route, with many of the passengers on board then using British Airways (which codeshares with AY) to continue their travel to the Americas, where Finnair has a very limited network.
But the most 'exotic' intra-European route you can fly on with a widebody is Berlin-Athens (or Athens-Berlin): not so much for the two (admittedly beautiful) cities themselves, but for the for the airline that connects them under fifth freedom: the low-cost Singapore Airlines, Scoot. Who, once she arrived in the Hellenic capital from Singapore with one of its Boeing 787s with very high seat density (up to 375 on 787-9s and 329 on -8s), then continues on to the German capital on a flight lasting three hours and 20 minutes.
In this case, however, forget about overflowing comfort (even in premium economy) and inflight entertainment, as Scoot's 787s lack them.
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