Boeing 757-300 (B753)

The Boeing 757-300 is the aircraft that pushed the single-aisle jet to its limit. The 757-200 of 1983 had been a success as a powerful, long-legged 200-seater, but by the mid-1990s charter airlines wanted more seats for the same crew, and Boeing launched a stretch in September 1996 with an order from Condor, Lufthansa's leisure subsidiary. Two fuselage plugs added 7.1 m, taking the cabin to as many as 295 seats, more than any other narrowbody before or since.

The first 757-300 flew on 2 August 1998 and Condor began services in March 1999, packing it with 275 seats for Mediterranean and Canary Islands holiday routes. Icelandair, Arkia of Israel, American Trans Air, Northwest and Continental followed, each using the type on dense routes where a widebody would be too much aircraft. Northwest fitted a comfortable 224-seat layout for domestic trunk routes; Continental used it between its hubs and Hawaii.

The aircraft's length brought operational quirks. Rotation on take-off has to be gentle to avoid striking the tail, so Boeing fitted a retractable tail skid, and boarding and deplaning 280 people through two forward doors takes time, a complaint airlines raised from the start. Economically it was efficient per seat but demanding to fill, and when Boeing ended all 757 production in 2004 only 55 of the -300 had been built, the last delivered to Continental in 2005.

That small fleet has proved durable. Delta took Northwest's sixteen in the 2008 merger and still flies them on high-demand domestic routes, United inherited Continental's nine, and Icelandair uses a couple across the Atlantic. With nothing comparable on the market, the surviving 757-300s may outlast many newer aircraft.

The 757-300 is structurally the 757-200 with two plugs, 4.1 m forward of the wing and 3.0 m aft, and a strengthened fuselage, wing and landing gear to handle a maximum take-off weight of 123.6 tonnes, up from the -200's 115.7. The engines are the same Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4 or Pratt & Whitney PW2043 turbofans, so performance is a little more sedate than the famously brisk -200, though still strong for a single-aisle.

The most distinctive addition is the retractable tail skid under the rear fuselage, which protects the structure if the crew over-rotates; it is a visible lump when the gear is down. The cabin received the 757's later interior with larger bins, and the extra length required a fourth pair of doors, giving the -300 three full-size doors per side plus overwing exits. The cockpit is unchanged, so pilots fly it on the common 757/767 type rating.

Delta Air Lines is the largest operator with sixteen ex-Northwest 757-300s, used on busy domestic routes such as Atlanta–Orlando, Salt Lake City–Honolulu and Minneapolis trunks, in a 234-seat layout with first class and Comfort+. United flies nine ex-Continental aircraft on similar high-density domestic and Hawaii routes, and Icelandair operates two between Keflavík and North America and Europe. Condor, the launch customer, retired its fleet in favour of A321s, as did Arkia. No other scheduled operators remain.

The 757-300 is a long cabin with the 757's narrow 3-3 seating and the 757's tall ride, and it feels like a very big single-aisle. Seats are about 17 inches wide, and because there are up to 40 rows, boarding through the front doors is slow; sit near a door if you have a connection. Delta's and United's layouts keep 31 inches of pitch in economy with a first-class cabin forward, and both have retrofitted modern interiors with power and bigger bins, so the experience is close to a 737-900 with more rows. The rear rows sit well behind the engines and are quieter than you might expect, but the aisle traffic in a 230-seat single-aisle is constant. For the best seat, pick a window in the first few rows of economy or an exit row; the rearmost rows back onto the galley and lavatories.

Length is everything: the 757-300 is a very long, slim tube on the 757's distinctive tall landing gear, and once you have seen the proportions you will not mistake it. Count the doors: three full-size doors per side plus overwing exits, where the 757-200 has two doors and overwing exits (or three doors in some layouts). The retractable tail skid is visible under the rear fuselage on the ground. Against an A321, the 757 sits far higher on its gear, has the pointed 757 nose with large cockpit windows, and its engines are mounted further forward with a visible gap below the wing.