Further to my last posts regarding the potential B777-300 order,some developments are occuring within BA Engineering at present that would support this as being true....
Any of you who have ever visited Tech block J in the maintenance area will be interested to know that there is now a project in place to convert Bay2 to accept the B777-300. Three firms are involved,Hughes and Salvedge,who are a specialist demolition firm,....Arup,a construction firm and Reel,a specialist access platform supplier. Both H&S and Arup have been given the task of creating a "bubble" on the front of Bay2 in order to facilitate the -300 and from speaking to thier guys doing the groundwork etc,it seems that BA have tasked them with a Jan09 completion date. From an engineers perspective this would tie in with an aircraft "arrival date" of somewhen in early Oct,as under the B777s MPD,they are due an "A" check at 105 day intervals!!
With regard the older 747-400s being parked in the desert,well there seems to be two "thought trains" in place at present....One seems to involve getting shot of the oldest 400s in late October,(start of winter schedule),...the other seems to centre around parking up some of the newest 400s and then flying the oldest ones hard and fast towards thier intended retirement dates,ie next "D" check. The logic of this seems to revolve around getting the most out of the oldest airframes,then when each one of these a/c reach the end of the line,it will be replaced by one of the younger ones from temporary storage!
One problem that BA has not apparently forseen,(according to the spotters in my area),is the fact that suitable parking slots in the various airfields in Arizona,that deal in aircraft storage,have more or less been exhausted by the recent demise/cutbacks in US airlines.
With regard the 767 fleet,it still seems likely that the ones doing the Shorthaul routes will be converted to longhaul config somewhen soon
With regard the 737s,well they are not within my "fleet scope",but all i can say is that "rumour control" here in Engineering,is rife regarding the sale of BAMG,(the BA maint base in Glasgow),to a third party,with the Airbus work being split between LHR and Cardiff.....Can't be much "family silver" left to sell now if this is true!!