Re: Worlds largest de icing, inspection, wash and engine wash robot installed at OSL

That looks like an opportunity for multiple failures in delivery right away, will be redundant in a week

Re: EK1 (A388) goes around at LHR, diverts to LGW

And now BA268 ... A380s having issues it seems You meant BA286 from SFO G-XLEK .. just went around again at LHR Will be interesting to see where that diverts to ? LGW I assume ? Sorry typo ... yes indeed, SQ308 coming in and looks like BA will try a third time after that! Must be an interesting rid...

Re: EK1 (A388) goes around at LHR, diverts to LGW

And now BA268 ... A380s having issues it seems

Re: LOT Air Unusual Routing

Am surprised that LOT overflies Russia given Poland's stance on the war. Did Russia not ban Polish overflying?

Re: Why are there daytime flights from North America to Europe?

Why? Because some passengers find it convenient, because it means that aircraft don't sit on the ground in the US for 24hrs (say if they arrive late in the evening) and most of all because LHR has enough O&D traffic to make it workable without the need for mass onward connections. I have taken t...

Re: Why did Virgin Atlantic order the A330's instead of more B787's?

I thought the story was that their deliveries of 787s were much delayed and they received compensation from Boeing and with A330s being available faster they filled the gap with that order - commonality with existing fleet probably helped too. Hence no top up order of 787s as none needed

Re: British Airways mulling (threatening?) to leave LHR

How do LHR fees compare to other European hubs? BA has a point, Heathrow has substantially increased fees and threatens to increase them more if runway 3 is ever built, plus the airport is now charging passengers for drop offs and no doubt looking to cream wherever it can because it can't manage it'...

Re: EK 216 Double diversion

LHR is a busy outstation for EK. If the schedule dictates it, not all airline crew are going to be on minimum rest assignments so this can open up outstation crew availability. If EK had a crew on a longer layover that was legal to fly it, it is possible that they might swap the two crews at LHR. A...

Re: Virgin Atlantic News and Discussion Thread 2020

Very very few people in the UK would think of using DTW as a means of getting to central Canada. It would surely have to be a lot cheaper to justify the hassle of having to face CBP/TSA in both directions between MAN and Canada... (even with pre-clearance leaving Canada in the way back, you’d still...

Re: BA to permanently close LGW short-haul ?

BA has what 6m+ passengers per annum from Gatwick, without knowing the split LH / SH that's a lot to give up ... however based on current forecasts the reality is the number for the foreseeable future is a lot less and can be easily absorbed by Heathrow? I actually wonder why BA is restarting some L...

Re: BA axes LCY-JFK A318 premium service

I have to wonder how many of those pax will just move to a private jet. Charter biz is up as are private jet flights. A number of models now can not only fly non-stop to NYC, they can fly to CHI, LAX non-stop. I should think that the logic is that BA or IAG does not forecast air travel to return to...

Re: Rumour: Emirates to decommission 40% of A380 fleet

When oil spikes, I believe it will spike over $100/bbl. This will hurt the less official question of when. My opinion on oil is based on the fracking companies being in bad financial shape and thus unable to ramp. So just as EK needs new equipment, they will have old equipment at old efficiency sta...

Re: 777 - 25 years in commercial service

The 777-300ER became the new 744, some of my best flights have been on this airplane. JAL and Cathay Pacific have excellent First Class cabins on them. The herringbone Business Class cabins many airlines have on their 777 are luxurious. This airplane is the pinnacle of today's airplanes, the A380 i...

Re: VS postpones GRU launch to October

skipness1E wrote:

Forward bookings were poor before the virus hysteria, it’s already been pushed back!

Re: Can Boeing make a great come back in 2020?

Is Boeing in control of its plan for 2020 - that's what I would ask? Currently there's a lot stacked up against it, the FAA and recertifying the Max, suppliers and particularly engine makers for the 777X, customers who may or may not want a NMA ... it's own mismanagement, it's workforce ... etc. If ...

Re: JFK-MAN in 5 hours 20 minutes on VS B747?!

conaly wrote:

8herveg wrote:

Thanks. Anyone know what the quickest time is for a commercial aircraft to fly from NYC to LON and/or MAN?

Remember the Concorde?

Re: Why haven't the 787's electronic tinting windows been used on other aicrafts?

VSMUT wrote:

Because it is a stupid gimmick that doesn't work as well as a traditional blind. Also, the push buttons disintegrate in less than a year and many passengers don't know how to use them.

Re: Rumour: Alex Cruz & Klaus Goresch leaving BA

It's not surprising after the disaster of a summer that BA has had, just Google the current state of misinformation and crap customer service around the planned pilots strike in September, and this on top of a record fine for their data breach, and more mismanagement throughout this year. If they ar...

Re: MOL warns of UK base closures and cuts in the coming week's

Weaker pound also means inbound tourism should be stronger mind, every cloud has a silver lining You assume people want to visit the UK? Was just there this weekend and now elsewhere, the topic game up today with the folks I had dinner with on visiting the UK and most felt it would be a "stay ...

Re: aircraft losses in natural disasters

What about the roof that collapsed on the hanger in Washington from heavy snow - was it that?

Re: Virgin Atlantic demands 150 slots at expanded Heathrow airport

VS cut routes to focus on yield with DL, Tokyo was a popular and busy route, HKG could go twice daily again for example. BA will fight but why should BA get 60% of the additional capacity and all other airlines suffer?

Re: KLM launches BLR in W19

Perhaps what it shows is that Jet had a captive market and blew it!

Re: 787th 787 rolls out of final assembly

Sp when does the production line run dry?

Re: What is VS's strategy in Asia?

I think it can be summed up easily: fly to limited routes with large O&D and good yields, but only when the aircraft utilization fits the roster supporting transatlantic.

Re: Which Airline Has The Most Planes Airborne/ % of Fleet at Any Given Time

I am interested in what people think, but one thought process is that airlines with smaller planes and predominantly short haul say ave 2 hr sectors or less may rank low because for every two hours they'll spend 30-60 mins on the ground. Whereas a predominantly long haul carrier may have their aircr...

Re: LH CEO claims LH sells the most premium seats — is it true?

I tend to believe that BA and LH sell most of their seats to corporates who get good discounts for volume business - it's not necessarily the individual who chooses them but their corporate travel team who make the choice for them. I don't know anyone who would prefer to fly BA over competition from...

Re: BA1/2 (LCY-SNN-JFK-LCY) Quietly Cancelled?

When Crossrail opens will the flight be dropped though?

Re: Woman pees on floor of Wizz plane.

Cue the jokes ...wizzing for those not familiar is slang for peeing!

Re: LH retiring most (or all?) A340-600?

The 346 was the Airbus attempt to polish a turd (i.e. the 340 was not a good design...so you make a derivative that is even worse). For LH the decision makes perfect sense. Why fly a 346 when you can fly a 359 with 30% or more lower operating costs? For a passenger the A346 is beautiful and comfort...

Re: Future of 777X

That's not to say the 777-9 is far superior to A35K - as I said above it will not have overwhelming advantages against smaller competition and will not come close to the 77W by widebody market share. But given the smaller capacity/risk delta over A35K, cargo parity (at least), and better MCC, the 7...

Re: MOL: "Norwegian 'gone' in 4-5 months"

There are many clouds on the horizon that could shatter Norwegian quickly, a debt / financial crisis could easily trigger a fallback in demand that would poleaxe their growth and lead to a cashflow crisis for example. On the other hand they may not. Norwegian is clearly taking risks in a business pl...

Re: IAG A350 Orders/Options

For EI, it will be interesting to see whether the A350 will reappear on the production list. I think it will be a very handsome aircraft in EI colors (but so will the 787 be :) ) EI doesn't have a route network that needs the A350, the 330 will do very nicely and then probably the 321LR for seconda...

Re: Qantas to announce ambitious plan to fly East Coast Australia to London and New York by 2022

The real journey time saving doesn't seem worth the extra inflight discomfort to me - particularly if you are a premium passenger and get access to lounges and showers on any stopover. The economics must be pushing the envelope too and any variation in demand could mean these routes becoming low to ...

Re: AirFrance/KLM buys significant stake in VS and extends partnership with DL/MU

Jetty wrote:

slinky09 wrote:

perhaps it's a way for DL to invest in VS and let it acquire some more Heathrow slots to grow?

This isn't an option as VS doesn't get any cash from the deal; DL's cash flows to AF/KL and Branson.

Re: AirFrance/KLM buys significant stake in VS and extends partnership with DL/MU

I am struggling to make sense of this strategically other than that having all four airlines in the JV means there's a way for DL to get a better return on revenues and its investments. It can't be about AF / KLM connectivity to VS at Heathrow given the terminal layout and really most of VS's custom...

Re: BA releases worst safety video ever?

Oh boy how miserable you all are ... has it's moments of humour and I'm certain the actual version on board will be snappier than this cut. As said, best to try to understand the context (Comic Relief, BA charity, some famous UK comedy faces) and if you don't culturally get it, stick to what you do!

Re: DL releases anti-ME3 video

I've always believed that if you have to trash your opposition as a marketing ploy, you have no belief in the value of your own offering. On just how many routes do DL and the ME3 compete again?

Re: Air Zimbabwe to be renamed, Gov't paying off debt, ET to partner AirZim

Trust me its over 1 miilion, even Mugabe does not want them to vote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabweans_in_the_United_Kingdom That's just silly and not even backed up by your link. As to Zimbabwe running a 777 anywhere profitably that's a joke, if it even exists it'll just be a toy for the co...

Re: Does BA capture a lot of North America <-> India traffic?

Yes, having worked in India I can affirm that people travelling to the US choose between LH, BA and EK with connections, and lastly AI direct - no one I ever met (Indian or other) preferred Air India over the other options due to its dire service onboard and on the ground. How LH, BA and EK rank is ...

Re: BA's "World Images" Tailfins - 20 Years On

I too loved them, I thought it demonstrated an outward looking, global, design conscious airline - I doubt that would ever happen with today's regime though.

Re: BA Union Blames Meltdown on IT Outsourcing to India

This reports the root cause as a (British) contractor accidentally switching off the power, and the problem being a human fault. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/british-airways-it-outage-caused-by-contractor-who-switched-off-8906438 In which case I still call baloney, the whole story is n...

Re: DL- service to EYW Key West

If you fly VS into ATL and connect on DL to EYW you are restricted to one hold bag as part of the ticket t&cs, even if you're eligible on the VS segment to two or more ...

Re: Richard Branson may start a new US airline venture after Alaska spat

He kinda took the one remaining high-fare O/D (almost)-monopoly and made it an AS hub. Where else could he start an airline of any decent size in the US? He won't start anything, he'll hope somebody else does and pays him for using the Virgin brand. He doesn't run anything, his main role is self pr...

Re: Why has Nigeria never had a major airline?

A friend who works at LHR used to tell me how much fun it was observing the check in for flights to Lagos or Port Harcourt, an amazing set of items including furniture and kitchen goods with wads of cash handed over as 'excess baggage'. The C word is rampant with anything to do with Nigeria and trav...

Re: Concorde Why no 1st class?

Define first class? For me one definition of FC is speed and service, Concorde had that in spades so who needs a suite and a bar when you can travel 3x faster than anyone else!

Re: Emirates EK A380 utilization

Really? The analysis presented shows that EK are using their A380 frames for more time each day than the industry average for international operations. If anything, it proves that EK have slightly less capacity than the majority of other airlines require for similar operations. And, lets not forget...

Re: CAPA: We will have Uber & Airbnb of Aviation in next decade, but no one is preparing for it

The article claims air travel will become more like Uber and AirBnB because neither of those entities actually own cars or apartments, they just analyze data and let others shoulder the cost of owning the asset. Airlines in the future will be those who shoulder the cost of assets, and Facebook, App...

Re: Should US allow foreign owned domestic airlines?

All restrictions for ownership is just protectionism for the companies instead of citizens. There is no justified reason for artificial restrictions of ownership or cabotage, neither related to safety, security, military, environment, health or economy. It is enough to require that foreign companie...

Re: Another United gaffe - forces doctor off plane

Looking at Unuted ceo's ambiguous non-apologetic response, it is clear as day that a man of his calibre should not be managing one of the world's largest airlines. He is out of touch and out of depth. Agreed, an utter failure to a) recognize the gravity of the situation and the reputational damage ...

Re: Norwegian announces DEN-LGW and SEA-LGW

Starting these routes as the winter season kicks in sounds risky to me, either that or Norwegian has a cash pile to burn through (but with another 20 787s coming I just wonder where it all comes from!).