Does anyone have any information about other airlines? Which airline - apart from LCC's - would be better? To me it seems like the planes are on the ground for a very long time and I don't see why they couldn't be in the air a bit more??
Also what would an LCC's utilization be - I would expect quite a bit higher?
Air2gxs From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (9 years 4 months 4 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 3519 times:
I can't give you any concrete numbers, but for every hour an aircraft is in the air it requires "x" amount of hours for maintenance. Of course as the aircraft ages, it becomes more maintenance intensive. Also, technologically advanced aircraft spend more time on the ground at maintenance intervals because sometimes its harder to zero in on a problem because of systems intergration.
True, an aircraft is only making money in the air, and costing money on the ground. But, ground time, used correctly and efficiently should save you money.
CanadaEH From Canada, joined Jul 2003, 1341 posts, RR: 4 Reply 4, posted (9 years 4 months 4 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 3400 times:
I think the daily utilization rate for a 737, on average (for a LCC) is somewhere around 10-16 hours a day. Newer aircraft also have a tendancy to operate even longer, sometimes as high as 20 hours a day. BA's 8 hour daily utilization rate pales in comparison...
Syncmaster From United States of America, joined Jul 2002, 1983 posts, RR: 14 Reply 5, posted (9 years 4 months 4 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 3373 times:
I don't know anything about the typical average of any of these planes, so I might be wrong, but don't these numbers, espcially the A320/319, 737's, and RJ's seem a little low?
Greaser From Bahamas, joined Jan 2004, 1081 posts, RR: 4 Reply 7, posted (9 years 4 months 4 weeks 16 hours ago) and read 3288 times:
easyjet of UK says it has a turnover rate of 20 mins on good days, and this is hampered by late passengers only! Hard to believe, but true. I think Southwest and Jetblue have one of the highest fleet utilization rates and prob. the highest turnover rates
VSGirl From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (9 years 4 months 4 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 3231 times:
I would say its up to the airline and schedule into how much they need their aircraft to fly.
I mean easyJet needs its aircraft in the sky to make their airline work, however airlines like Virgin Atlantic, BMi & British Airways its the schedule and on time 'ness' that’s the important thing.
I think to a degree most international large carriers will have a slightly lower utilization time then charter airlines or LCC's.
If you want to see high utilization times look at the British charter airlines during the summer months, such as MYT, BY & AMM.
InnocuousFox From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2805 posts, RR: 16 Reply 9, posted (9 years 4 months 4 weeks 8 hours ago) and read 3158 times:
Keep in mind, the larger the aircraft, the longer the turnaround time. Also, on longer flights, you are limited by the DEP/ARR times... you can't just turn the plane and come back immediately. A lot of time, then, is spent waiting for the oportune time to depart.
Dave Mark - Intrinsic Algorithm - Reducing the world to mathematical equations!
AlexG From Germany, joined Sep 2001, 95 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (9 years 4 months 4 weeks 7 hours ago) and read 3086 times:
I'm not a pro within these terms, but what came to my mind:
- Only the aircraft costs themselves pay off the faster, the more hours the a/c is in the air (given some revenue on these flights). But fuel and crew costs, maintenance, landing fees are per-flight-values.
- Carriers which tend to keep their a/c for long time, may prefer to keep some life in them.
- The shorter the routes, the lower the utilization rate. But not all airlines are able to fly longer routes -- and I'll bet there are very lucrative short flights.
Regarding BA's commuter a/c, an utilization of 8 hours may not be THAT low, given that U.K. is not the size of the States...
Just my few cents... (too much work to be done here at home... )
Srbmod From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 16896 posts, RR: 51 Reply 11, posted (9 years 4 months 4 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 3016 times:
The best way to sum it up is this:
A plane doesn't make money when it's sitting on the ground!
Thaigold From Australia, joined Sep 2003, 314 posts, RR: 2 Reply 12, posted (9 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 2946 times:
Well the above hours must also include the backup aircrafts, aircrafts for service etc.
In a fleet like BA's with over 300 aircrafts how many would be out of action at any time??? Is there a big difference between long and shorthaul aircraft?
Swissgabe From Switzerland, joined Jan 2000, 5265 posts, RR: 36 Reply 13, posted (9 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 2823 times:
I think their long-haul fleet has a pretty good "in air" time if around 11-12 hrs a day. Smaller jets have more rotations and more ground time due to that the turn around time on ground is much longer than long-haul planes.
I'm sure airlines using long-haul planes on short-haul flights (eg. Japan) have a more ground time and a lower air utilization time.
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CPDC10-30 From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2000, 4759 posts, RR: 26 Reply 14, posted (9 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 2802 times:
If I remember correctly Canada 3000 used to claim that they had the highest aircraft utilization rate of any airline in the world. A lot of good that did for them... The utilization on the A330-200s was around 16 hr/day.
United4ever From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 291 posts, RR: 2 Reply 15, posted (9 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 2763 times:
I would have thought that the charter carriers would have the greatest utilisation as they have the same kind of short turnrounds as the LCCs plus they fly at all sorts of hours - Even the LCCs would have a job filling a 4am flight.
InnocuousFox From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2805 posts, RR: 16 Reply 16, posted (9 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 2690 times:
I've got the 1Q 2002 numbers sitting here on my desk. Per a/c type and per airline. I'm just not in the mood to type them all in.
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The utilization on the A330-200s was around 16 hr/day.
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