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VS 747 Out Of LGW And 340 Out Of LHR

mortenbaek From Denmark, joined Sep 2007, 40 posts, RR: 0
Posted (3 years 2 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 8868 times:

I was looking at the Airline Route Mapper and randomly discovered that VS roughly flies their 747's out of LGW and their 340's out of LHR. There are only a few exceptions to this pattern. What is the reason for this allocation of aircraft on routes?

Thanks in advance.

Morten

12 replies: All unread, jump to last

planesarecool From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 4096 posts, RR: 12
Reply 1, posted (3 years 2 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 8854 times:

Quoting mortenbaek (Thread starter):
I was looking at the Airline Route Mapper and randomly discovered that VS roughly flies their 747's out of LGW and their 340's out of LHR. There are only a few exceptions to this pattern. What is the reason for this allocation of aircraft on routes?

The routes from Gatwick are to high density leisure destinations, whereas from Heathrow they are more business orientated. There are four 747s based at Heathrow, but these have more upper class seats than those based at Gatwick.

jfk777 From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 7407 posts, RR: 7
Reply 2, posted (3 years 2 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 8371 times:

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The Virgin LGW fleet area few 744 flying to Orlando and Barbados primarily, with a few Caribean islands thrown in. Las Vegas is flown also from LGW. Those 744 have a 14J/ 58 Y+/ 352 seating configuration.

maddog888 From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2007, 161 posts, RR: 0
Reply 3, posted (3 years 2 weeks 16 hours ago) and read 8157 times:

Quoting planesarecool (Reply 1):
The routes from Gatwick are to high density leisure destinations, whereas from Heathrow they are more business orientated. There are four 747s based at Heathrow, but these have more upper class seats than those based at Gatwick.

I was wondering about this as in July the LHR-BOS flight has a 340 on Saturday and return flight - BOS-LHR on a Thursday - has a 744. This seemed odd to me as more people would fly on a Saturday surely. However it would be explained by the number of premium seats as I assume Saturday would be mainly tourists.

J

bospatriot From United States of America, joined Feb 2010, 15 posts, RR: 0
Reply 4, posted (3 years 2 weeks 15 hours ago) and read 7987 times:

BOS regularly see's 343/346 and 744LHR. The LHR based 744's are mostly all reconfigured from 54/62/228 to 44/62/267 (added Y on the U/D). But we also regulary see a/c changes from the schedule, especially since VS parked 3 a/c.

MCO/LAS/Carribean see the high density 744s out of LGW (MAN and GLA also)

Many of the major intl carriers serving BOS send a mix of a/c though. AF sends 330/340/747. BA sends 777/747. LH sends 330/343/346/747.

AirbusA6 From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2005, 1932 posts, RR: 0
Reply 5, posted (3 years 2 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 7687 times:

Most VS A340s are A346s, which aren't that much smaller than 744s anyway...just a different shape

it's the bus to stansted (now renamed national express a4 to ruin my username)

1stfl94 From United Kingdom, joined May 2006, 1455 posts, RR: 0
Reply 6, posted (3 years 2 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 7540 times:

The VS flights from LGW and MAN are primarily for Virgin Holidays traffic hence the need for big Y cabins. The only exception is the BGI route which uses an LHR config 747 based out of LGW (think its either G-VFAB or VBIG)

LX138 From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2009, 349 posts, RR: 0
Reply 7, posted (3 years 2 weeks 7 hours ago) and read 5308 times:

The 747's are now one of the oldest types in the fleet - and the A340's, as someone said are mostly new -600 series examples and are placed on the higher yielding routes which are from LHR. I believe the seat per mile costs work more favourably with the 747's out of LGW too, considering they are on the mass-leisure routes with high density Y cabins.

Can anyone confirm if they have now upgraded the LGW 747's cabins to the LHR standard? (eco IFE, new Y+ etc?)

StarWorld Team - The ultimate airline alliance

NZaholic From United Kingdom, joined Sep 2008, 26 posts, RR: 0
Reply 8, posted (3 years 2 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 4197 times:

SFO is one of the few US routes out of LHR that still sees a regular daily 744 (at least for the Summer season). I'm currently in California having flown here last Saturday (29th) in VBIG.

My first time in Premium too, well worth the extra £

[Edited 2010-06-04 19:40:47]

[Edited 2010-06-04 19:41:19]

1stfl94 From United Kingdom, joined May 2006, 1455 posts, RR: 0
Reply 9, posted (3 years 1 week 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 2981 times:

Quoting LX138 (Reply 7):
Can anyone confirm if they have now upgraded the LGW 747's cabins to the LHR standard? (eco IFE, new Y+ etc?)

I don't think the refits are happening until next year, the new products will be launched on the A330 first.

NASCARAirforce From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 3099 posts, RR: 5
Reply 10, posted (3 years 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 2192 times:

Quoting bospatriot (Reply 4):
MCO/LAS/Carribean see the high density 744s out of LGW (MAN and GLA also)

These would be -

G-VGAL
G-VLIP
G-VROS
G-VROY
G-VXLG
G-VROM
G-VAST
G-VTOP

Vasu From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2005, 3772 posts, RR: 0
Reply 11, posted (3 years 1 week 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 2034 times:

Anyone have a clue what's happening about the new Y-class seats VS were trialling a while back?

planesailing From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2005, 802 posts, RR: 0
Reply 12, posted (3 years 1 week 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 1858 times:

Quoting 1stfl94 (Reply 6):
The VS flights from LGW and MAN are primarily for Virgin Holidays traffic hence the need for big Y cabins. The only exception is the BGI route which uses an LHR config 747 based out of LGW (think its either G-VFAB or VBIG)

LGW ops are just a glamourised charter airline essentially. The product is nowhere near that of available from LHR, even in Y.

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