There are all sorts of factors playing in the allocation of aircraft to routes. In broad terms aircraft are placed on routes where they can maximise their contribution. "Passenger appeal" is a factor likely to be considered of importance only where competition is a major factor. I think Sao Tome doesn't yet fall into that category .....

Allocation of aircraft to routes is part of the airline's management of network revenues and costs. Short term they can only work with the fleet they have. The larger wide-bodies may offer greater comfort to passengers, but they are more expensive to operate than narrow-bodies and demand might not be sufficient to match the capacity offered on some routes.

Unless there is significant and regular demand for premium-class seats, the inflexible layout of the cabins in the A330 could work against its selection.

Finally there's the other downside of high-capacity aircaft on a narrow route - frequency. Perhaps better to stimulate demand with a daily service in a smaller aircaft than offer only three flights a week in a bigger plane.




Aircaft will be put on routes where they can generate the most cash. If the fleet is limited, you might find otherwise "inappropriate" equipment allocated: pehaps the case of STP .