FlyingHippo From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 642 posts, RR: 1 Posted (3 years 1 week 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 1501 times:
CI currently operates 13 744s (passenger), only 4 of them has AVOD that they fly to LAX and NRT.
The rest of CI's 744 fleet is as old as dirt. Their Y class doesn't even have IFEs. IFE in F and C are old and lucky to be working... This is the national airline for Taiwan - it's hard to believe they wouldn't invest some money to upgrade their interiors on their 9 744s at least to the current standard. Especially considering who they're competing with in that region: BR, CX, NH, JL, VN, SQ, KE etc...
Will they ever upgrade their older 744s? CI doesn't have any orders on the books that will replace 744s, and majority of their 744s are close 15 years old... I understand their 333s are pretty new, and 343s are decent, but waiting for a new plane to arrive into their fleet instead of upgrading current fleet's interior is not a good way to cater to your passengers!
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22023 posts, RR: 51 Reply 1, posted (3 years 1 week 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 1483 times:
Per the May 2010 edition of Airline Business, a 744 fleet replacement is not forthcoming as "the financial situation cannot support a plan to order this kind of airplane" per chairman Philip Wei. Article does mention however the 744 fleet will see interior upgrades.
Only new planes on the horizon for CI are new A330 leases and 14 A350-900's commencing delivery in 2014.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
Quoting LAXintl (Reply 1): Per the May 2010 edition of Airline Business, a 744 fleet replacement is not forthcoming as "the financial situation cannot support a plan to order this kind of airplane" per chairman Philip Wei. Article does mention however the 744 fleet will see interior upgrades.
Only new planes on the horizon for CI are new A330 leases and 14 A350-900's commencing delivery in 2014.
I think the last chairman also mentioned that the interior of older 744s will be replaced... in 2007!
Their 744s are looking really pathetic on the inside... Don't they run D checks on these planes? If they do, why not replace the interiors??
I'm planning a trip to TPE in Nov, even though CI offers the most convenient schedule on JFK-TPE, I'm thinking about a longer travel time by flying JFK-HKG-TPE on CX.
EVAAIRBR076 From Netherlands, joined May 2009, 74 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (3 years 1 week 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1370 times:
Funny i was talking about this also in another forum, i copied what i said about their and i totally agree with Flying Hippo.
Funny you people brought up more airlines without PTV's. I only wanted to mentoin the ones i experienced to avoid mistakes. Yes i think for me it is also a good reason to fly with an airlines besides the price. Now i stay in Thailand for the moment and i flew with my favorite ailine BR. This time for the first time economy class, normally i fly evergreen deluxe (what i think is a great class). Economy with BR doesnt have PTV's, so you people could understand that my flight took ages (beside that it is already a hell of a flight, 11 hours), lucky the plane was half full and i had 4 chairs in a row for myself, so i had a good sleep. This was the first time that i had to ask the stewardess, where we were half way the flight. I really had no idea where we were. And this subject also brings me to a question, how airlines deside what best product they put on witch route? I mean every airline has older airplanes, different types, different cabin layout, ptv'or not. For example BR and CI have a very good payload on AMS but they not really update their product, do they just dont care or are there other reasons for this.( the reason i mention BR and CI is because that is only the ones a have experience with). as a airline fan aswel as passenger i see this as a lack off service (or give it another name). BR switchted from a 747 to a 777 for a while but changed it back to a 747. The 777 was new and had nice cabin, the 747 are old and i know some are getting upgraded to newer standard, but for some reason not the combi's. Also for CI, having a long history at AMS doesnt really try much to upgrade the cabin. i know this what i mention is not so important but it are just some questions what comes up sometimes in my aviation head.
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