Boeing 737-800: Mainline Group & FIFO Charter

The Boeing 737-800 is one of the most widely operated narrowbody aircraft in commercial aviation, and one of the most frequently chartered for group movements across Australia and the Asia-Pacific. It is a natural fit for corporate group travel, sports and entertainment tours, and fly-in fly-out (FIFO) or drive-in drive-out (DIDO) workforce rotations into resource and mining regions.

Its combination of mainline capacity, reasonable operating cost and broad airfield compatibility makes it a default recommendation whenever a group is too large for a business jet but does not need widebody range or capacity.

Typical seating on the 737-800 is in the order of 162 to 189 passengers depending on operator and configuration, in a single-aisle cabin with standard overhead and underfloor baggage capacity. Charter layouts can be adjusted for group comfort or maximised for larger workforce contingents.

Its widely standardised cabin and door configuration also make ground handling and boarding processes familiar to most airports and ground handlers across the region, supporting efficient turnarounds on repeat charter programmes.

• Typical seats, approximately 162 to 189, varies by operator configuration
• Cabin, single-aisle, standard mainline narrowbody
• Range, domestic and medium-haul regional sectors
• Best for, larger groups on domestic and regional routes, including FIFO rotations

Range at typical payload is generally in the order of 2,900–3,000 nautical miles, covering the great majority of Australian domestic and regional Asia-Pacific charter routes non-stop. This makes it a workhorse for FIFO workforce charter into mining and resource regions, where regular, reliable rotations at scale are required.

Its widespread global operation also means positioning and crewing are generally straightforward, which supports faster charter turnaround than a less common type.

For very large groups needing intercontinental range, a widebody such as the [Airbus A330]/aircraft-guide/airbus-a330-passenger or Boeing 777 is a better fit; for smaller groups on shorter regional sectors, the [Embraer E190]/aircraft-guide/embraer-e190 or [Airbus A320]/aircraft-guide/airbus-a320 may be more economical and offer better access to secondary airfields.

Tell Aviall your group size, route and dates and we will confirm whether the 737-800 is the right aircraft, source it and coordinate the movement end to end.