Apparently, two A330s are now u/s in the US, one at ORD (EI-JFK) and the other at BOS. Anyone know what the problem is; this must be putting quite a bit of pressure on ops, particularly as the ORD aircraft has been there two nights (?)
The rate of 330 breakdowns seems to be quite high this Summer compared to previous years; are there root causes (lack of Airbus support, particular problems occurring repeatedly, for example?)
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On the home front, EI is said to be focusing on short haul flights of over 2hrs, as a (the?) major growth area, believing that pax will prefer EI over FR on longer flights. Russia, Greece and Scandinavia are being targeted.
The 320's range (albeit at 150 pax) from DUB is around 2600nm, which brings most of Europe and North Africa - even as far east as Tehran (yeah right, I think they'll leave that one to FR!) - with the 320's range.
http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=&...OR=&MAP-STYLE=
It does offer scheduling advantages as well, since EI can use overnight downtime to operate to places such as DME, IST, LCA, possibly even CAI), maximising utilisation.