Originally Posted by
Cazza_fly
The 787s are really knackered out at TUI (and nost other airlines in fairness. BA for example really habe huge issues with theirs too). They need to stop using them on short haul as they are not suited to these types of ops. Especially in the busy charter summer schedules. Gone are the days of the versatile 757/767 operations that were very well suited to operating in this manner and switching up between shorthaul and longhaul ops very easily. Britannia / Thomson used to pride themselves on being one of, if not the most punctual airlines in the UK / Europe.
If TUI are going to continue to want mass uplift capacity in the summer to European destinations ising the 787s, the only way to alleviate this mass disruption is to schedule even longer downtime between each flight or ensure more 787s are scheduled on standby each day, which is really inefficient.
But as you and others say... something really has to be looked at at this operation as its really not sustainable.
I can only comment from BHX and the 788/789 seems to have been no different to any other aircraft tech wise and most issues seem to revolve around delays (various reasons) and the knock on effects on crew duty hours. They have taken decisive action at BHX with the 787 short-haul schedule for next summer greatly reduced the flights by adding an extra 737 to the base instead which might improve matters especially if it doesn't involve Sunwing.
The irony this morning after the B772 re-routing to Gatwick, BHX ended up with 3 spare aircraft, one positioning empty to Palma, a Sunwing to EMA to cover for the tech aircraft still stuck in Ibiza and a 788 having the extra one sent extremely late yesterday afternoon from Manchester to cover the Friday Tenerife. BHX still had all 11 departures as per peak summer schedule so not as if flights had ended.
It seems all the issues happened on the wrong day, a Friday where the summer schedule is virtually still in full swing. If this had happened Monday-Thursday the results might have been different (short-haul not long-haul) but you can't gamble on that but I suppose unlucky to have so many issues in the space of a few hours.
I didn't realise that only one 763 isn't flying, was that planned or is "YK" tech at Manchester or just stood-down?
The most recent 737 addition to the fleet is also showing on the ground Manchester for 18 hours so aircraft shortages most days would appear not to be the issue and it is just general delays and the knock-on issues with crew hours (mixed in with some tech), which seem to have created this.
As for the 772 re-route to Gatwick, which was caused by the 16 hour turnaround at Manchester yesterday to operate the Friday BHX-BOJ was perhaps a little too tight for handling purposes
. I assume that there was more to this as 16 hours is well in excess for crew to be back in hours. I know I would not be a happy bunny if I was on the Burgas flights especially if travelling with under 4's knowing what had gone on in the last 48 hours.
It would be good to hear from someone within TUI to hear of some of the obstacles involved in recovering the schedule from Friday.
Pete