Eurostar

[Peter47]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this question, but here goes.

Eurostar is in the news as technical problems with condensation are preventing their traind from running through the tunnel. One of my gripes is operators not arranging alternative travel arrangements when things go wrong.

It would cost a fortune to rebook pax on scheduled flights but what about chartering aircraft. My (probably hypothetical) question to anyone who knows is:

Is it easy to charter a large aircraft between London & Paris (or Brussels)at short notice - are aircraft, crews, slot, grounding handling etc readily (and affordably) available?

This of course raises another question - would it be possible to charter a Eurostar if it were running normally and airports were fogged out like a couple a Christmases ago - somehow I doubt it would happen!

[tocamak]

I would think that capacaity would be a problem given the numbers involved. Not absolutely sure but I think each Eurostar carries 700-900 pax and given the scheduled frequency that would add up to a lot of seats to charter at short notice.

[Expressflight]

Back in the '80s P&O operated a Boeing hydrofoil between Tower Bridge and Ostend, with a coach link to Brussels. They called this their 'Jet Ferry Service' and one of its problems was the water intake used to ingest plastic and other detritus causing engine failure.

My broking company at SEN used to be contactable on a 24 hour basis by P&O and many is the evening when I had to hastily arrange a 737 to position into SEN to fly the stranded pax across. TEA was the operator of choice as they seemed to generally have good availability at short notice and we never let P&O down by failing to come up with an aircraft. We obtained the contract only because P&O's internal travel agency wasn't very good at finding a cost-effective charter - they used to favour Laker 707s out of LGW at twice the cost of our 737 charters.

I'm sure the same thing could be done today, but the corporate culture now tends to be to cancel the service and wash your hands of any moral responsibility towards your pax travel arrangements.

I agree that the numbers of pax involved on Eurostar services would make an 'airlift' operationally more difficult to achieve.

[N707ZS]

Manston airport has attracted a number of extra cargo aircraft at the moment.

[Groundloop]

Manston airport has attracted a number of extra cargo aircraft at the moment.

And the relevance to Eurostar is...?

[muckin fuddle]

[QUOTE][Quote:
Manston airport has attracted a number of extra cargo aircraft at the moment.



And the relevance to Eurostar is...?/QUOTE]



Use cargo aircraft for the stranded Eurostar pax !! :ok::ok::ok:

[virginblue]

If I am not mistaken, the chunnel is also used for freight trains / hauling trucks on trains...

Just like at an airport, not everything is passenger operations.

[SWBKCB]

Eurostar and the chunnel are seperate entities - Eurostar is a passenger train operator that uses the facilities of the tunnel for their routes from the UK to mainland Europe. Chunnel is the operator of the tunnel and the shuttle trains used for moving vehicles through the chunnel.

Must admit to being a bit surprised that after years of operating the current conditions are so unique as to cause such a cluster of failures, or has something else changed recently?

[Groundloop]

If I am not mistaken, the chunnel is also used for freight trains / hauling trucks on trains...

Just like at an airport, not everything is passenger operations.

The car/freight shuttles, which are running normally, are operated by Eurotunnel. As mentioned by SWBKCB Eurostar is a passenger only operation. Hence the questions about the relevance of cargo aircraft.

Nice one, fuddle! Just hope MOL hasn't read you post or he could come up with new cost savings at RYR.:ok:

[muckin fuddle]

Nice one, fuddle! Just hope MOL hasn't read you post or he could come up with new cost savings at RYR.



For MOL do you mean Ryanair1 or Leos Hairy Camel ? !! :E:E

[virginblue]

Thanks for the clarification. I thought we were talking about the chaos around the tunnel operation in general rather than about Eurostar in particular.

Anyway, I guess if a couple of Eurostars were stuck in the tunnel, the shuttle trains could not work to schedule, and with the access roads being thrown into chaos, I guess there is a point why extra cargo flights were scheduled.

[Georgeablelovehowindia]

The Eurostar trains seat 206 First and 544 Standard Class passengers. The enormity of the problem is that Eurostar now carry more passengers between London and Brussels/Paris than all the airlines combined! Anyone got a fleet of A380s going spare?

There is nothing blocking the tunnel at the moment, but the Eurotunnel shuttles are operating under very trying weather conditions, as I see that freezing rain is falling on the French side, and is forecast to do so until this time tomorrow. Nasty stuff, freezing rain, and I wouldn't want to be setting off down the autoroute in it.

A lot of freight trains go through the tunnel, especially at night.

With the 'Open Rails' agreement coming into force next year across the EU, Air France/KLM have applied for train operating licences into St. Pancras.

[cpaterson]

BA314 tomorrow is scheduled to be a B744 (normally an A319), presumably to help stranded Eurostar passengers.

[Georgeablelovehowindia]

Well, presumably to help 'stranded everybody' - period! Very sensible, and interesting to note that when BA introduced the 747-400, they did it on the Paris, so the first batch of pilots could get their training sectors up quickly!
:ok:

[Charlie Roy]

Belgian travel agency JETAIR has engaged its daughter airline JETAIRFLY to operate flights this evening and tomorrow between Brussels and Gatwick for stranded customers who booked their Eurostar trip to London via them.

Article in Dutch:
Luchtvaartnieuws: dagelijks actueel luchtvaartnieuws (http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/news/default.asp?cat=all&id=33176)

21DEC JAF9101 BRU 1730 LGW 1830 738 OO-VAC 189/189
21DEC JAF9102 LGW 2000 BRU 2100 738 OO-VAC 189/189

22DEC JAF9203 BRU 1130 LGW 1230 738 OO-JAF 189/189
22DEC JAF9204 LGW 1400 BRU 1500 738 OO-JAF 189/189

Although I now see on the Gatwick thread that flights are being delayed/cancelled due to snow. I hope the inconvenience for all those eurostar pax is solved soon :ouch:

[Chidken Sangwich]

Eurostar chartered Titan 757 and Strategic A320 yesterday and Jet 2 757 today.