Cirrus 328 Crew In DRS: Lazy Afternoon?

fd728 · Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:46 pm

I was wondering whether anyone could tell me what the Cirrus Airlines Dornier 328 crew is doing the whole day in Dresden. They get there from Zurich at around 9:35 am and the plane doesn't head back to Zurich until 06:20 pm. The plane sits there on the apron for several hours and makes no money and I am curious what the crew is doing in DRS all day long.

Regards, FD728

TriStar500 · Fri Feb 17, 2006 7:37 pm

Having a nap? Going for lunch? Big grin

Seriously, I don't know. Is the aircraft possibly used for a private company charter in the meantime?

HBDAN · Fri Feb 17, 2006 7:44 pm

https://www.airliners.net/open.file/0923932/M/

The aircraft stay all day long at DRS... having a nap and going for lunch would be also my tip!

Regards,
HBDAN

StarFlyer · Fri Feb 17, 2006 7:48 pm

Hardly an effective use of resources. Why won't they use the aircraft for flights to popular destinations, eg. Paris, in the meantime? And would the crew get paid for the waiting time between flights?

TriStar500 · Fri Feb 17, 2006 7:51 pm

Quoting StarFlyer (Reply 3):
Hardly an effective use of resources. Why won't they use the aircraft for flights to popular destinations, eg. Paris, in the meantime?

It is possibly cheaper to have the crew and aircraft sit idle all day instead of using it for a money-losing flight to some other destination.

HBDAN · Fri Feb 17, 2006 7:53 pm

Cirrus operates nearly all routes in niche markets, it would not make sense to fly to popular and high density traffic destinations.

If they would make another flight they would need at least one more crew team. So they decided to stay like this. Of course the 4 legs per day per aircraft is not that good.... but they have an aircraft ready in DRS for any customer who need a charter or a short term wet leasing.

Regards,
HBDAN

fd728 · Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:00 pm

Now that is interesting, I was just told by a friend of mine that he saw the 328 land at around 1 pm at DRS yesterday! And this was not a scheduled flight as it wasn't listed on the arrivals board. I guess it does operate occasional charters during the day. I guess the crew must have been happy not being able to visit the Frauenkirche for the 10th time Wink

Hey nice church though, I live a couple miles from it.
Thanks for the replies guys.
Regards, FD728

jorge1812 · Sat Feb 18, 2006 3:33 am

Quoting TriStar500 (Reply 1):
Is the aircraft possibly used for a private company charter in the meantime?

Yes, it's the whole day at DRS and even on the most weekends we have the Cirrus Dornier here all the time. We wondered about this but maybe it's the same crew so it's cheaper to put them into hotel and fly the plane back in the evening instead of having a second crew here. Today the evening flight was listed as delayed already at midday.

Quoting StarFlyer (Reply 3):
And would the crew get paid for the waiting time between flights?

Don't think so as crews are paid in block hours normally (the time from start to stop of a flight).

Quoting FD728 (Reply 6):
I was just told by a friend of mine that he saw the 328 land at around 1 pm at DRS yesterday! And this was not a scheduled flight as it wasn't listed on the arrivals board. I guess it does operate occasional charters during the day

Really, I can't find it on the arrivals/departures but wasn't on the airport too. Back in summer 2004 they had lot of problems with the planes and there were mechanics around the Dornier every day all the time and nearly every second flight was delayed....

By the way I like the shape of the white Dorniers here at DRS and in the last few months we go t to see the Jets more and more often.

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