HF, you may well be right about the exact numbers that are coming into the fleet, but put a A300 into service on a sector longer than 5- 5 & half hours with a full passenger load there starts to be payload restrictions. Check out the cargo rev uplift ex KUL especially its very poor (7 & half hours - 8hours), BKK not much better, CMN only "gets away with it" more often than not because its not full. MAN (if full) will suffer from same prob.
Check out fuel burn...for example MXP-DOH on A300 is more than MXP-DOH on A330! Same with B777! The problem is theres no real plan. We go back to the other threads of the past, expansion for expansion sake, get what ever aircraft we can. Nearly all airlines operated payload restricted sectors but we seem to operate far more than most. It may be cheaper to buy/lease but its not cheaper on a flight by flight basis and if its operating payload restricted sectors, well, whats the point?
The mismatch of aircraft to routes...
A300...most of europe, KUL, BKK, CMN
A320...TRV, KTM, MLE etc ..even worse in this case because the hold are full of baggage (when full with passengers)so very little if any cargo is uplifted.
Most major carriers make a vast proportion of their profit from cargo. We clearly are not carrying as much as we could. If we didnt have vast amounts of money behind us would we put more effort into getting it right in order to make a profit? I Think so!
Anyway HF...what is your conclusion from this little survey as it seems to me all of us are just covering old ground again...hapiness is V2 out of Doha!!!