Airliners.net

Allright folks, saw a new pic today that confused me.


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Photo © Carlos Borda


Read in the caption- it's a 767-324. X24 is Continental's operator code, indicating that this plane was built for Continental Airlines. However, Continental certainly doesn't operate any 767-300s, and to the best of my knowledge never has. I didn't think they had ordered any.

SO- being the resourceful guy that I am, I searched the registry. Lo and Behold,

craft:27569
line: 601
B767-324(ER)
CF6-80C2B7F
Delivered: 03/25/96
Operated by: NORTH AMERICAN AIRLINES (GECA)
Current rego: N767NA

So, it is a 767-324.

Who knows the story behind this? Did CO order them and then not take up? When? Why? Who was the ruling superpower of the time, Texas? Actually, delivery date is 1996- that's long after their financial woes. BUT- that does not indicate WHEN the plane was ordered. What's the story?

Thanks in advance.

Okay, just spent a little more time in the registry and learned that there are FIVE -324s out there. They're split up all over the world- Delta has one, Vietnam has three, and North American has the last one.

I am really curious...

Thanks!

Randy

When CO placed its initial order for 752's, they also order 763's. The 763 order was cancelled prior to delivery of the 763's.....hence they were never operated by CO.

All five of the -324s were taken on by GECAS once CAL chose to decline their delivery in 1995.

Of these, 3 were leased to Vietnam airlines immediately and continue to be in service with them today. A fourth was leased to Ansett as VH-BZF, returned after their shutdown and now with NAA as N767NA. The fifth was leased to Asiana as HL7505 from 1995-1998 and to Delta as N394DL from March 1998.

This one always confused me - during my one visit to the Boeing production facility in 1995, there was a Continental 767-300 sitting on the tarmac in full paint. Then I never saw or heard from them again until I learned that CAL had declined delivery.

I believe the first two planes (and maybe the third too?) were painted and registered for Continental as N48901 and N58902. The third was supposed to be N68903, but I'm not sure if she was ever painted in CAL colors. The other two were never painted in CAL colors and were supposed to be N47904 (registered but left in white) and N84905 (never registered).

Does anyone know why they declined to take the 763's, especially when they were that close to delivery?

Does anyone know why they declined to take the 763's, especially when they were that close to delivery?

Don't quote me on this, but I believe it had something to do with Gordon Bethune's restructuring of the debt. He cut some sort of deal with GECAS where they would get these planes in exchange for other financial concessions. I don't know this to be fact though, so take that with a pinch of salt.

Thanks for the info, gusy- now I know the rest of the story!

Randall

According to a reliable source (777GK) CO is looking to order about 8 767-300s when things start looking better (hopefully by next year sometime).

They would be used to free up 767-200s , the 767-200s would then replace 757s on Trans-Atlantic routes and also be used on trans-Cons from EWR (EWR-LAX, SFO).

According to a reliable source (777GK) CO is looking to order about 8 767-300s when things start looking better (hopefully by next year sometime).

That would surprize me. The capacity gap betw the 762 and 764 is not overly huge.

"That would surprize me. The capacity gap betw the 762 and 764 is not overly huge"

Tell that to DL, they operate all three 767 variants.

The 767-200 CO operates actually only has a couple more seats than their 757s.

The 767-300 has more seats than a 767-200, and much more range (and a cheaper price tag) than the 767-400.

Tell that to DL, they operate all three 767 variants.

True, but the DL 762/763 were added to the DL fleet before the 764 came out.

It makes more sense to add the 764 to a 762/763 fleet than the 763 to a 762/764 fleet. The former is for capacity growth, the latter for relatively minute capacity gaps.

The capacity gap between the 762 and 764 is actually not that small. The 762 currently holds 174 seats while the 764 has 235 for Transatlantic and 256 for Pacific. Thats a difference of 61 for the first type and 82 for the Hawaii flights. That to me is fairly large. What is standard two class seating on the 763 ?

Jeremy

VH-BZF which was operated by AN as its international 763 always retained ae CO interior, despite never having been delivered to CO, which made it a bit of an orphan compared with the other AN 767s but the interior was comfortable and always felt a little bit more spacious.