Airbus A3XX From Australia, joined May 1999, 507 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (7 years 5 months 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 4334 times:
Quoting TristarSteve (Reply 1): NO! That is decided the evening before, and can easily change later.
Wrong. Airlines would generally develop comprehensive aircraft rotation schedules which includes flight assignments and maintenance slots a few months prior to execution of the schedule. However this could be subject to changes up to a few hours prior to actual departure time of the flight.
TristarSteve From Sweden, joined Nov 2005, 3712 posts, RR: 34 Reply 3, posted (7 years 5 months 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 4297 times:
Quoting Airbus A3XX (Reply 2): flight assignments and maintenance slots a few months
Which airline is this? How on earth can you plan flight assignments a few months ahead? Perhaps if you have one aircraft and no choice.
But BA has around 40 B747 at LHR every morning. Why should they assign them schedules in advance. Admittedly some aircraft are booked to go into the hangar, but nearly all the rest are scheduled the evening before. If you look in BAs flight departure lists at LHR you will see registrations appearing from about 1500 the day before as the planners allocate aircraft to routes, depending on which ones have defects that need fixing in the morning, and which ones have problems like unserviceable APUs.
VC-10 From United Kingdom, joined Oct 1999, 3677 posts, RR: 36 Reply 4, posted (7 years 5 months 2 days ago) and read 4259 times:
Quoting Airbus A3XX (Reply 2): Airlines would generally develop comprehensive aircraft rotation schedules which includes flight assignments and maintenance slots a few months prior to execution of the schedule.
The operator I work for dosen't assign a/c until two weeks before the day in question, and even then the allocation will probably change 3 or 4 times in te two weeks.
Quoting Airbus A3XX (Reply 2): However this could be subject to changes up to a few hours prior to actual departure time of the flight.
So TristarSteve was correct.
I do like it when students shoot down people who have been in the industry for years.
Rick767 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2000, 2662 posts, RR: 52 Reply 6, posted (7 years 4 months 2 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 4134 times:
Can't tell for sure, the actual aircraft which operates the service could change up to about 2 hours before departure for any number of reasons.
Over the last month, however, 3 aircraft have operated over half of all BA15 services:
G-BNLP
G-BNLO
G-BNLK
(operating 17 out of the last 33 BA15 flights up to 02/02/06)
One thing is almost for sure, you won't get G-CIVF, G, H, or I as these are BA's 747-400 'Lite' aircraft and would struggle with the range on this route. They tend to stick to US East Coast and Delhi flights.
I used to love the smell of Jet-A in the morning...
Bri2k1 From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 988 posts, RR: 4 Reply 10, posted (7 years 4 months 1 week 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 4087 times:
Quoting ZSOFN (Reply 9): Wouldn't you call this a Tech/Ops question?
Maybe it is. But, MrChips makes a good point for the original poster, which is that the question has a higher likelihood of being more completely answered there. The poster did not request a lengthy argument about who knows more about when specific airplanes are tied to a flight. The rules don't help much, either:
Quoting Description of Civil Aviation Forum: If it's happening in commercial aviation, you'll get the info and opinions here first. Home of thousands of users, enthusiasts and industry professionals, together making this the most active and fact filled aviation forum online. Join our ranks, you won't be disappointed.
Quoting Description of Tech/Ops Forum: The more advanced forum for those of you who want to dig deeper into technical issues as well as airline management and operations. A forum for both professionals and knowledgeable amateurs.
One thing to keep in mind about the rules:
Quoting Rule 3: Do not post a message on how you find a topic or user irrelevant, boring, childish or stupid.
So, MrChips has a good point in that the one specific question that was asked could probably have been better answered in the other forum, but we should strive as the professionals of tech/ops to say it with dignitiy.
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