David_itl From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2001, 7145 posts, RR: 14 Posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days ago) and read 1624 times:
bmi A330 G-WWBB has gone tech or had some other kind of emergency which caused it to land in Halifax whilst operating the BD706 from ORD to MAN today (or it may have been BD705 from MAN to ORD yesterday). Ironically, it comes on the day that G-WWBD positioned out to LHR for onward lease to South African.
It means that tomorrow morning, a special one-off service will be operating from ORD: UA5002, type not known, which is expected to arrive at 6.30 am according to BBC Ceefax. G-WWBB is expected to be returning from Halifax tomorrow morning at 2.30am as the BD1607.
So, will this happen all the time when the remaining MAN A330 goes tech?
Crosswind From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2000, 2572 posts, RR: 59 Reply 1, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1586 times:
So, will this happen all the time when the remaining MAN A330 goes tech?
In event of an AOG problem, bmi will arrange the fastest way of getting passengers to their destination and the aircraft back on schedule, same as with any other airline when they don't have any other aircraft available to cover an AOG problem. Suppose in this case using a United aircraft was expeditious, plus many on the flight would be United customers anyway. If it had happened this side of the Atlantic the likes of an Air Atlanta or EAAC B747 would probably be stepping in...
bmi obviously never planned to have a spare aircraft at Manchester to cover delays, the spare A330 was forced upon them due to it's early return from SAS and lack of other suitable work for the aircraft until now. It must have been a huge expense to the airline over the past year operating a very small long-haul network of two very new Trans-Atlantic services, under difficult economic conditions carrying the overhead costs of 3 aircraft.
The deal with South African is going to bring in a significant amount of cash to bmi which should help secure the future of both the Chicago and Washington services from Manchester. Over the winter bmi will now have better loads on the Chicago route with passengers being re-routed due to the cancellation of the Washington flight. Plus they also have no commercial risk in the operation of the other 2 A330s for SAA which will be in constant profitable operation, as opposed to one flying the loss making Washington route and the other sitting at Manchester for the 2 or 3 flights it would be required to make over the winter!
Slawko From Canada, joined exactly 14 years ago today! , 3799 posts, RR: 10 Reply 2, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1568 times:
It actually had smoke in the galley yesterday and diverted to Moncton NB, it went on to YHZ this morning.
"Clive Beddoe says he favours competition, but his actions do not support that idea." Robert Milton - CEO Air Canada
Gigneil From United States of America, joined Nov 2002, 16215 posts, RR: 88 Reply 5, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 1488 times:
If they win rights to Heathrow ever, they're going to bother in a big way.
But as they've said, its hard to support just MAN without LHR.
David_itl From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2001, 7145 posts, RR: 14 Reply 6, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 1447 times:
G-WWBB arrived this morning as the BD1607 at 05.25 whilst the United flight metamorphosed into being the UA9001 and was 767 N653UA which arrived at 07.17.
I did have a few worries that the replacement flight wasn't going ahead as the UA flight disappeared from Ceefax 5 minutes after I started this thread and gave a general "heads-up" to 2 yahoogroups!
The one thing that's never generally brought up about the bmi long haul plan is the amount of destinations they've applied for from LHR which aren't to the States; they seem to want to tap into the biggest market first rather than attempt something else. I wonder if the JNB experience may lead to them starting services there from MAN & LHR within the next 2 years....as far as I know, they've haven't yet been granted the license to fly there.
Matt From Canada, joined May 1999, 679 posts, RR: 2 Reply 7, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 1398 times:
G-WWBB landed in YQM (Moncton, NB) on Saturday, Nov. 30, at around 2300 local. Since there weren't enough hotel rooms available in Moncton, the 260 passengers and crew were bused to YHZ (Halifax, NS). The A330-200 stayed in YQM until late afternoon on Sunday, after which it ferried to YHZ to pick up the passengers for the flight to MAN. The flight was operating ORD-MAN. The plane landed because of smoke in the galley.
N175dz From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2000, 274 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 1379 times:
I had no idea about this, until I was in Chicago last night waiting to catch BD706 (operated by G-WWBM; and full to boot), the ground staff in joked with the captain and two first officers as they boarded 'Please don't go to Canada tonight....'
Crosswind From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2000, 2572 posts, RR: 59 Reply 9, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 1238 times:
David,
The A330 would suffer payload penalties on flights out of Johannesburg to the UK which would affect the routes' profitability, although flights to JNB would be largely free from weight restrictions.
The high altitude and high temperatures of JNB affect all aircrafts performance and can restrict their operating weights, but twins are more affected than trijets or quads. This is one of the reasons you see few (if any?) really longhaul flights into JNB being operated by the B767/777 or A330...
Lets hope for those South African A340s at MAN next year!
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