Originally Posted by
Matt995
YL-LDO was never a stand by aircraft for Jet2 at Birmingham, was always planned to operate for TUI out of Manchester.
The Smart Lynx A321's have been nothing but a headache for them, technical issues, delayed departures, meaning the crew go out of hours at the destination airport, I wonder if the first new A321 neos might be used to replace them for Summer 2023?
With respect, YL-LDO
was allocated to be a "pool standby aircraft" stationed at BHX (correct as at June) and by "pool" I mean available to support Jet2 if any of their leased A321's fall over as well as other operators currently with SmartLynx aircraft. So yes the aircraft could end up with TUi, easyjet etc etc. DO was called into action just the other week for Jet2 but the flight ended up not going due to further issues. TUi do have an agreement with SmartLynx for an A321 but DO was not the original contender. SmartLynx have a few more 321's coming online of which YL-LDR is the assigned frame for TUi at MAN - it is however not expected in service until the middle of the month I am reliably informed. All subject to change of course...
My point is, there was an agreement for a standby aircraft for Jet2 (albeit shared) and currently there still isn't one because DO is now flying a full line for TUi out of MAN until another 321 is in service. I can't imagine Jet2 are impressed with the situation, the pool aircraft was never intended to go off to work for another operator for several weeks. Alas until SmartLynx physically have the extra frames the redundancy will not be there.
Jet2 will of course be looking to reduce their dependency on ACMI as soon as possible with the arrival of their own NEOs but it will be a complex transitional period. The arrival of the NEOs for them will see the 757 departures begin again and in time 733's & older 738's, lots of training/re-training for Flight & Cabin Crew involved. It may be a stretch to have a NEO flying from BHX by next summer but perhaps they will move their 3 A321-200s down from MAN as the NEOs arrive. Then perhaps ACMI & subpar service delivery can be avoided.