virginblue4 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2008, 831 posts, RR: 0 Posted (9 months 1 week 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3375 times:
Was just on flightradar24 and noticed G-VINE departing from LGW now it has returned from lease. Will it be a leisure based aircraft (LGW/MAN/GLA) or LHR based?
spiritair97 From United States of America, joined Jan 2011, 1231 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (9 months 1 week 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3319 times:
VIR744 From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2006, 55 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (9 months 1 week 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 3138 times:
It will be leisure based, departed to MAN for paint input and will later go to Zurich for cabin reconfig to move Premium to the front and install eXphone.
sevenheavy From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2004, 1126 posts, RR: 10 Reply 3, posted (9 months 1 week 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 3123 times:
Quoting VIR744 (Reply 2): It will be leisure based, departed to MAN for paint input and will later go to Zurich for cabin reconfig to move Premium to the front and install eXphone.
I thought the decision to move Premium to the front had been taken before delivery? I saw some interior pics of G-VINE which indicated as much, but I could be wrong.
I thought it was going to ZRH to have the 3 class config installed. If not it seems a strange decision as the long term plan was to have all A333 operate from LHR
anstar From Netherlands, joined Nov 2003, 4845 posts, RR: 6 Reply 4, posted (9 months 1 week 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 3056 times:
Quoting sevenheavy (Reply 3):
I thought it was going to ZRH to have the 3 class config installed. If not it seems a strange decision as the long term plan was to have all A333 operate from LHR
It was brought back earlier due to issues with Ryan international.... so the plan was for it to go 3 class, but as it has been returned earlier it is going to LGW/MAN to ops thinner routes in the winter like MAN-LAS
I knew about the issues surrounding its early return from lease, but I thought it went to Ryan in the existing leisure config of W59Y255. Therefore if it was going for reconfiguration it could presumably only be into the 3 class layout?
Considering that all A333s are to be in a 3 class config operating from LHR by next year it would seem strange to do an interim reconfiguration unless there is a good reason ( maybe it allows VS to return G-VTOP earlier than planned?)
1stfl94 From United Kingdom, joined May 2006, 1454 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (9 months 1 week 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 2670 times:
Quoting sevenheavy (Reply 3): Quoting VIR744 (Reply 2):
It will be leisure based, departed to MAN for paint input and will later go to Zurich for cabin reconfig to move Premium to the front and install eXphone.
I thought the decision to move Premium to the front had been taken before delivery? I saw some interior pics of G-VINE which indicated as much, but I could be wrong.
VINE along with VGEM and VLUV have a Y-W-Y config, if its going to be a leisure plane I'm guessing their planning on making it indentical to the other A330s flying from LGW/MAN. As sevenheavy states this might mean they retire VTOP early which would avoid having one last unrefitted plane flying leisure routes.
virgincrew From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 411 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (9 months 1 week 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 2606 times:
Quoting 1stfl94 (Reply 7): VINE along with VGEM and VLUV have a Y-W-Y config, if its going to be a leisure plane I'm guessing their planning on making it indentical to the other A330s flying from LGW/MAN. As sevenheavy states this might mean they retire VTOP early which would avoid having one last unrefitted plane flying leisure routes.
My understanding is the same... G-VINE is off to MAN for livery change back to VS & then off for cabin re-config back to 59W / 255Y from Y-W-Y.
skipness1E From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2007, 2373 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (9 months 1 week 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 2568 times:
Quoting 1stfl94 (Reply 7): VINE along with VGEM and VLUV have a Y-W-Y
What's Y-W-Y? J-W-Y surely? Or W-Y? I understood they were delivered as two class aircraft as the premium product wasn't ready, so if it's going for a cabin refit, surely it's joining the LHR fleet?
G-VGBR has not yet been delivered so can't really be "active" surely?
No they're actually Y-W-Y... I don't remember the details but they were delivered to VS in its' J-W-Y and then the J was replaced with Y before they went to Ryan is my memory... someone else might correct or expand on that?
Quoting DeltaB717 (Reply 11): I don't remember the details but they were delivered to VS in its' J-W-Y and then the J was replaced with Y before they went to Ryan is my memory... someone else might correct or expand on that?
The Y-W-Y comes from the aircraft arriving prior to the new UCS being ready for rollout.
If they had gone for a W-Y config, then work to retrofit J would have involved removing Y seats behind D2, moving W seats to behind D2 and then installing the new J seats between D1 and D2. In this Y-W-Y configuration, they just remove all the Y seats forward of D2 and the first few rows of W (for the ba/galley) and install the new J in their place -- much cheaper and quicker than moving around half the seats in the aircraft.
virgincrew From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 411 posts, RR: 2 Reply 14, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 2150 times:
Quoting skipness1E (Reply 9): What's Y-W-Y? J-W-Y surely? Or W-Y? I understood they were delivered as two class aircraft as the premium product wasn't ready, so if it's going for a cabin refit, surely it's joining the LHR fleet?
G-VGBR has not yet been delivered so can't really be "active" surely?
Yes the aircraft that were leased out were configered Y - W - Y - for exactly the reasons above.... it means that when they are ready for LHR config they only need to remove the A Zone Y seats and re-config the area around the 2 doors for galley and bar.
However, G-VINE has come back early and LHR isn't ready for it yet .... so I believe it will go to LGW/MAN to replace 744 G-VTOP.
G-VGBR is in final testing, livery and is ready for delivery - so for all purposes it is 'active'.
sevenheavy From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2004, 1126 posts, RR: 10 Reply 15, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 1973 times:
Quoting virgincrew (Reply 14): Yes the aircraft that were leased out were configered Y - W - Y - for exactly the reasons above.... it means that when they are ready for LHR config they only need to remove the A Zone Y seats and re-config the area around the 2 doors for galley and bar.
Interesting! I thought that idea had been ditched before delivery!. I always understood the rationale but I doubt it would have gone down well with Premium customers!
As an aside, the config shown for the three class A333s is incorrect. The actual config is J33W48Y185. The config shown is the A346 layout
virgincrew From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 411 posts, RR: 2 Reply 16, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 1919 times:
Quoting sevenheavy (Reply 15): Interesting! I thought that idea had been ditched before delivery!. I always understood the rationale but I doubt it would have gone down well with Premium customers!
I suppose as far as VS were concerned they weren't bothered, they are just interested in the best option for them when these aircraft return from lease and are ready for re-config. Namely, this way ... it's the cheapest and quickest option.
The aircraft with config Y - W - Y were never going to enter service with VS like that.
An A333 already operated to BOS a few weeks back although it was a 1 off. They also sent one of the leisure config A333's off to BGI the other week to, again a one off.
Quoting DeltaB717 (Reply 11): No they're actually Y-W-Y... I don't remember the details but they were delivered to VS in its' J-W-Y and then the J was replaced with Y before they went to Ryan is my memory... someone else might correct or expand on that?
Not exactly - the first 2x (G-VSXY and G-VKSS) were delivered to VS in Y-W-Y and sent off to ZRH to be reconfigured to W-Y-Y. If G-VINE is to be based at LGW then no doubt it will also be W-Y-Y.
Quoting virgincrew (Reply 16): The aircraft with config Y - W - Y were never going to enter service with VS like that.
Correct - another reason why the first 2x were delivered around Feb 2011 but didn't enter service until April. G-VKSS was even pushed into service earlier then planned as G-VSXY went tech.
Still seemed like the 2x at LGW were rushed into service - J cabin not being certified, paint not ready... probably why the other 3 were shipped off elsewhere until now.
trex8 From United States of America, joined Nov 2002, 3970 posts, RR: 14 Reply 21, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 1757 times:
Seems to say they are "due" back, probably very soon. Gecas has an A333 c/n 1346 due to deliver to CI soon. Presumably to make up for the return of one of the VS birds and at least another A333 with c/n close to the Gecas bird is due for CI also, c/n is 135X but not sure who the lessor is.
bmibaby737 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 1636 posts, RR: 10 Reply 22, posted (9 months 1 week 22 hours ago) and read 1493 times:
Quoting virgincrew (Reply 19): well... looking at Planespotters.com, they have both been re-registered back to VS ?
First of all, it's http://www.planespotters.net - and secondly, where does it say they've been both re-registered back to Virgin? As far as I can see it just says they're both due back in the fleet of Virgin when the lease to China Airlines finishes.
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