trex8 From United States of America, joined Nov 2002, 3979 posts, RR: 14 Reply 6, posted (7 months 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 989 times:
Were they always supposed to be 3 class but the delays in the seats forced them to have some 2 class birds for a while or did the market change in MCO etc requiring upper class.
They were always going to be three class, but to avoid delivery delays 2 were fitted with a 2 class cabin and put into service on leisure routes, primarily Orlando. This actually proved useful as it allowed the leisure B744s to be refurbished in quick succession.
Starting in march the three leisure configured A330s will be reconfigured to a 3 class config, as was always the intention. The aircraft will then be rotated on a combination of LHR and higher premium demand leisure routes from LGW.
qf002 From Australia, joined Jul 2011, 2607 posts, RR: 1 Reply 13, posted (7 months 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 990 times:
Quoting trex8 (Reply 3): With the CI planes are VS moving the PE seats to the front from the middle cabin? WTH did CI put them in the middle anyway??
Yes. The new UCS product was delayed, and it's far cheaper/easier to simply remove one cabin of Y seats to retrofit the new J seats than to remove a cabin of W and a cabin of Y and fit both J and W in their new cabins.
sevenheavy From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2004, 1127 posts, RR: 10 Reply 15, posted (7 months 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 988 times:
Quoting jetset7e7 (Reply 14): Apologises yes bad typo G-VOGE, it has recently undergone maintanence prior to return to lessor.. then for disposal.
Disposal? Are you sure? It is being returned to the leasing company, and AFAIK being stored at LDE pending possibly finding a new home.
Whilst they may ultimately end up being scrapped I don't believe that this is the current plan, and efforts will first concentrate on leasing them to another carrier.
sevenheavy From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2004, 1127 posts, RR: 10 Reply 17, posted (7 months 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 986 times:
Quoting rutankrd (Reply 16): Disposal doesn't necessarily mean scrapping !
No, fair point. Maybe its just me, but considering all previous references were to the aircraft being returned to the lessor, I read the "then for disposal" point as a further action after its return to the leasing company - as if they were intending to dispose of the aircraft/airframe (which isnt the same as saying VS were disposing of its services)
Anyway, the intention is very much to find a new home for these aircraft. Undoubtedly they will be tricky to shift but equally the lease rates will be low and they have been well looked after.
At some point they will cross a line whereby they will make more money as scrap. A sad fate for such a nice (and relatively rare) aircraft, but ultimately its purely a financial transaction designed to get the most return for the owners.
As an aside, it would be interesting to know if these aircraft were ever profitable for the leasing company. VS got an EXTREMELY good deal initially. Now they face either being leased at even lower rates, sold cheaply, or scrapped. It doesnt seem to me that they ever had a period where they were generating a healthy return to the owners (Airbus leasing?) although that in turn depends on how much they paid for them to start with.....
trex8 From United States of America, joined Nov 2002, 3979 posts, RR: 14 Reply 18, posted (7 months 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 986 times:
Quoting sevenheavy (Reply 17): As an aside, it would be interesting to know if these aircraft were ever profitable for the leasing company. VS got an EXTREMELY good deal initially. Now they face either being leased at even lower rates, sold cheaply, or scrapped. It doesnt seem to me that they ever had a period where they were generating a healthy return to the owners (Airbus leasing?) although that in turn depends on how much they paid for them to start with.....
If Airbus own them they can dangle them as an interim lift incentive till some carrier gets their A359/A35Js! A can eat the low lease rates if it gets them an order for A350s! Might even turn some carriers looking to replace 744s off the 747-8, which is available sooner, and wait for a A35J.
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