GKOC - I gather Virgin Atlantic is trying to keep hold of all their B787 and A350 pilots and dump as many of the others (747 and A330) as they can get away with, using a legally questionable de-merit matrix. However a number of 787 and A350 pilots may have been put on some kind of furlough which is apparently why these 'temporary and unforeseen' shortages have occurred.
All according to a couple of tame but somewhat disaffected VS A330 pilots in our village, who had had a couple of beers or two when this was being discussed and thought they were rather poorly placed. One thinks he is going to lose his command, the other, his job.
I don't think there are many 787s still 'AOG for engines' anywhere, though apparently there are some additional Rolls Royce 'mitigations' still working their way through the system.
Stormin' - My understanding is that 'pax aircraft being used as freighters' originated with bringing vast quantities of PPE (in manually-loaded seat-bags and cardboard boxes) from Asia, which the folks thought was going straight to save the NHS. That may be the case now, but it was certainly not at the time of Robert Jenrick's 84 tonnes of whimpering Turkish Delight in mid-April.
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