TAD Wrote:
Is it only me that thinks that Aberdeen-Houston can't be done off 1830m?
TAD and others.
Great Circle distance Aberdeen – Houston is 4012nm.
From Boeing figures: (note:Standard 757-200 not ER/ET variants)
1830m Runway gives a Max Take-Off Weight of 103-104MT
Operating Empty Weight is 57MT or thereabouts – I am assuming (!) here that a 50 seat Business Class fit weighs about the same as 189 ordinary seats.
From Payload/range charts – at long range cruise
Brake release, full fuel, max weight 103MT gives you a payload (pax + bags) of around 13MT (RR RB211-535E4) or 16MT (PW 2037/40) for a range of 4000nm (including reserves)
Or, in more practical terms, 260Kg per passenger (50) for the Rolls version, 320Kg per passenger for the PW model.
Restricting the payload to 150Kg per pax, bumps the range of the Rolls to around 4200nm (including reserves) and the PW one to a shade under 4500nm (including reserves)
So in theory it works….. Trouble is I believe the Payload/range charts are Still Air?
Westbound Transatlantic is not often Still Air flying
Having said that, even a refuelling stop is only going to add 40-60mins to a schedule, and has got to beat the Heathrow/Amsterdam/Paris hassle. One (unsung) advantage would be the nicety of a mid-morning or lunchtime departure – no need to get up at O Dark Hundred for a 0530 check-in, you’d probably have time to nip in past the office for the latest gossip as well.
As for Oil companies not paying Business Class fares – this may be true BUT there are a LOT of oil related businesses that do – I have a number of neighbours & friends who are not employed by Shell/BP etc but travel to Houston several times a month in Business Class with BA/KL/AF (one even goes SK).
BA Miles/Flying Blue may prove a harder obstacle
DD