Now BA Is Parking Aircraft

[Nigelinoz]

But only two,in the form of two 747's,at Cardiff.
BA and Iberia merger talks are idling on the tarmac - Times Online

Further evidence of this downturn emerged over the weekend when BA confirmed that it had parked two Boeing 747 jets at Cardiff airport. The jumbos, worth more than £140 million each, have had their engines covered and doors sealed as the airline awaits for passenger numbers to pick up.

I wonder who will be next?

 

[Evan]

Sounds like a very short term park, i guess they expect it to pick up quickly and may keep these A/C to flight status in a very short time else you would assume they would park them somewhere a bit warmer and drier.

 

[simongr]

Sounds like a very short term park, i guess they expect it to pick up quickly and may keep these A/C to flight status in a very short time else you would assume they would park them somewhere a bit warmer and drier.

I wonder if the cost of fuel to get them somewhere warmer and drier is a tad too high... certainly not finding warm and dry in England

 

[Nigelinoz]

Sounds like a very short term park, i guess they expect it to pick up quickly and may keep these A/C to flight status in a very short time else you would assume they would park them somewhere a bit warmer and drier.

Quite a coincidence really,if I remember rightly only a couple of years ago BA was flying empty planes across the Atlantic on ferry flights to the US to pick up passengers because they had a shortage of crew,now they seem to have crew but no passengers :!:

 

[Evan]

I wonder if the cost of fuel to get them somewhere warmer and drier is a tad too high... certainly not finding warm and dry in England

hmmm vs the cost of fixing corrosion ? No idea but i assume there is no issues with the wet climate in the short term only for a long time.
As you say not much warm and dry in England
I guess Fuel cost would be somewhere getting upto as high as 70-100k (AUD) range for the flight ? I dont know the distances and i am too lazy to find out.

 

[JohnK]

I find it rather odd that airlines are struggling to fill aircraft and do not release more award seats to encourage people to travel. OK it is not cash but it reduces FF point liability at a time when passenger numbers are down.

I was struggling to get BA/QF award seats for my RTW award in August/September only to read that BA is parking aircraft waiting for passenger numbers to pick up.

 

[oz_mark]

I find it rather odd that airlines are struggling to fill aircraft and do not release more award seats to encourage people to travel. OK it is not cash but it reduces FF point liability at a time when passenger numbers are down.

I was struggling to get BA/QF award seats for my RTW award in August/September only to read that BA is parking aircraft waiting for passenger numbers to pick up.

Problem is that it is not cash, and I suspect you can only increase the number of reward seats to a limited extent, before it becomes uneconomic to fly the aircraft. Simplistically, if the fare paying passengers + the freight is not paying for a flight, is it actually worth flying it?

 

[JohnK]

Simplistically, if the fare paying passengers + the freight is not paying for a flight, is it actually worth flying it?

You are probably right.

I was not suggesting that they simply operate aircraft with passengers just on award tickets but if airlines are currently operating flights at lower capacities than normal why not release more award availability on these flights? Sure part of the additional award seats would be from the airlines own FF point liability so not generating revenue but any award seats used from FF points transferred from credit card reward programs or FF points from partner airlines do generate revenue.

 

[FL360]

Hi JohnK,

Say a flight have to be over a certain load factor to break even, I am sure they know that even if they increase award availability they will not achieve that, so they park the plane.

Not many people have the pts (and the leave) to take up seats during low seasons....

 

[simongr]

When people redeem flights the airlines do recognise revenue (the cash was banked many moons ago).

I think the airlines would ratehr park 1 plane rather than fly 2 1/2 empty...