FCA 767 is 2-3-2 with individual seat back IFE threwout either 36 or 33 inch pitch
TOM is 2-4-2 with 37 or 33 inch seat pitch

Any chance that XL could be bringing in A330's from XL France to run the travel city direct flights? XL will only have 2x 767-300's from next year as apparently G-VKNH is onward to varig as PR-VAD.

XL Info
 

There is a thread in the Cabin Crew forum with details of an internal memo for staff at XL regarding the withdrawal of the 757, 767 and 747 aircraft from the fleet asap.
What does this mean for the Travel City Direct programme with the withdrawal of the 747s?
Who will be operating the longhaul flights the group has already sold?
Anyone have anymore info on the plans for the future?

aren't they getting some a330.

dont think they enter service until next november so they must be going to keep at least some big aircraft until then

Perhaps they may bring in a couple of A330's from XL france ?

Perhaps the 330's, maybe even bringing 744's from Corsair? Travel City is only selling economy and premium seats for next year so the 747's are definatly off the menu. Does corsair's 744 have a 2 class layout? I would have thought there selling the amount of seats for the 743 so they would need that capacity.

XL
 

Heard today that TF-AME and the 767's 757's are all going or on the way out. AME's last flight is the 3/10/07 the MCO flights will flown by 767's until 14/11/07 when the route closes.

XL are going to replace its fleet with 737-900's and 330's not sure of a time frame, but can't be to far away.

SFB will be operated by 767-300..most likely to be G-VKNG in a 24/251 configuration.

Travel City Direct @ Glasgow Airport
 

Hi, don't know if this is the correct place for this question so if it is not, please don't jump down my throat!!!!

I was interested to now why it is that the Travel City Direct Flight from Glasgow Airport to Sanford International on a Monday afternoon (3PM) never manages to take off on time.

Even if the plane is in well before 3PM it just never seems to take off on schedule - Does anyone know the reason for it? I was wondering if it was because Glasgow Airport is not used to handling Jumbo jets?

Many thanks for your help.

Too much mayhem on disembarkation and boarding. Not enough ground staff for luggage etc. Often arrives late too. Glasgow punters refuse to follow polite boarding protocol. Rows 30-45 basicially means a free for all.

the two TCD/XL 747's are going back to Air Atlanta on 15th November, other reports on here say the flights will be replaced with 767's

so the reason it i late leaving is basically they cannot get it loaded quick enough?

I thought that perhaps Travel City really were not that keen on getting the plane to Sanford that early and were quite happy to see it go at about 4-5PM?

Are Travel City def getting new planes for the Florida flight??

Get John Smeaton to "get in aboot them" baggage handler's at GLA and sort it out.

It could be for any reason, the only people that will know are the handling agents or the airline. And maybe the pax on board if announcements are made.
TCD is notorious for being late at CWL when it comes in for 6 wks at peak summer.
This year however has been quite a success, i think the latest departure being 30 mins due an engineering problem.
CWL is certainly not built for a 747, its free standing and coached.

But with 500+ pax, whereby yes the handling agents may not be used to handling such a large a/c, it isnt easy trying to control the boarding!

Especially if u havent got the facilities to do so (decent boarding area and gates / coaches etc)

Thanks for that.

Yes, on Monday just past the flight was 1Hr 45 Mins late on taking off - I have flown with them a few times from Manchester & Glasgow. MAN is almost always on time, but GLA for some reason is always late!!

Whats this about new planes? Does anyone have any more info?????

Just got a brochure in from TCD.

Looks like they are getting shot of the Jumbos and going for 767's & Airbus A330's.

Anyone know any more?

I thought TCD were getting -400s from ANA? - Then XL bought A330s a while back to replace the 767s.

You should search the forum. Theres quite a few threads about TCD and XL :)

What bases are XL pulling out of as part of their restructuring? I know NCL is on where their operation will decrease, flights being operated by a third party carrier next summer. What will happen to the crew's at these bases? Will an agreement be reached with the third party carriers to give ex-XLA crews an advantage?

Is XLA Airways going bust?
 

Does anyone know if XLA Airways are going bump? My partner flies as cabin crew on the B743 & B763 all the XLA staff have been given letters about redundancies and company streamlining? Apparently they are scrapping the B743's which are in the Travelcity Direct colour scheme! does that mean that holiday brand is being scrapped to? Seems they are focusing all there efforts on there B738 A/C's which without being harsh limits your capacities in regards to pax and cargo etc.
Also we hear that on top of this they have lost the MOD contract to an American carrier Omni Air who operate DC10's! how will the DC10 cope with the volume of pax and cargo that the current B743 takes out of BZZ to ASI and over to MPN? Is this really the beginning of the end for XLA are they suffering the same fate as European?:sad:

Its my understanbding that they are replacing the 747's with 767's and eventually A330's

XL
 

They are not going 'bust'
The MOD contract was not renewed by the MOD ; the operator of the a-c for the MOD run could not commit to its availablity; it therefore went to tender
The Pilots on that run were supplied by the operators of the a-c; cabin crew from the XL Pool
Several of the older types in the fleet are being disposed of as they go off lease; therefore a reduction in Crew numbers is needed for the next 18 months
XL have kept their staff well informed about what is going on
No pain; no gain
B 743 have high capacity as well as high operating costs; the SFB programme will be a mix of B767/A330 for the next 18 months ; thereafter all A330; 40 % less seats but maybe 50 % of the cost to operate (my guesstimates; not official figures; but hopefully fairly realistic)
If your partner is crew; he'she will have received all the communication from the company; posts such as yours do NOTHING but scaremonger amongst cutsomers/fellow employees and do no good whatsover IMHO

Is XLA Airways going bust?
 

Thank you for the response to the question I asked, just in case i'm unsure of something is'nt the whole meaning of this website to ask questions and find things out as well as deliver information and to assist people's queries? I asked a question Dungeon not scare mongering just a simple question so climb down of your self proclaimed pedastal please you started the post response really well answering questions i had asked, but then you have to finish like you did, its a shame as its people like you that make people leave the pprune site and discuss things elsewhere as negativity like that is not needed, if questions offend you then perhaps you should not sumit to sites like this:D

Postings here of rumours of airlines going 'bust' can have a massive detrimental effect on businesses that are doing well. Media folk read these pages and a slight rumour posted on here can turn up as gossip in the newspapers, thus undermining a 'good business'.

Your post referred to 'streamlining' which means just that, and not XL going 't!ts up'!

Folk involved with redundancy are quite legitimate to ask more, but stating that an airline is about to fold needs hard evidence to substantiate such a rumour.

Questions
 

Paul

Not sure what you meean by sumit but I stand by what I said; your partner flying for XL should be reason enough for you not to make posts like yours; has your partner not had his/her questions answered from the internal communications? ; I did not find your questions offensive; just a little concerning

Also not too sure what in my response can be counted as negativity; I merely set out the facts as I am aware of them; coupled with a certain suspicion that you; not your partner is raising the queries; as Buster says, the viewership of this site is by default industry wide and the words bust and airlines in the same paragraph can do no good to anyone

Just for the record, European have not gone bust; they lost the TCY contract which obviously resulted in a downsizing of the company; as you will be aware many employees ended up at AAE then XL

Finally, the pax load on the ASI run is well coped with by a DC10; it is the cargo lift that will suffer but that is decision that the MOD have made

What does 'bump' mean? Is it a business expression that passed me by? This page of this thread shows how Pprune can allow people a vehicle to drag the good name of a company about, make extraordinary inferences and opinions and hints about the business model and health of a company, then scream when put right by some perfectly lucid answers! Pprune is a soapbox for free speech, however that right certainly gets abused frequently! Step forward Paul1942 for today's prize.

oh dear rainboe, i might have to agree with you here. it seems to me that, if anything excel might actually be moving forward. they have decided to replace old and tired equipment with new. i know its not good news for those who may lose their jobs, but they could not keep this stuff flying economically for much longer.

Father in law works for excel and he has heard today the a330,s are now not going to be happening ,he is very worried at present

Havent the A330's been ordered already...?

Wot, no A330's
 

That's strange .... Just received by mail an unsolicited 130 page glossy Travel City Direct Florida 2008 second edition brochure which features a full page devoted to the comfort and exceptional value for money 'Getting there in Style' on one of our branded XL Airways Boeing 767 or Airbus A330 aircraft. Mind you, a full page is also devoted to 'Flying on Scheduled' with BA, AA, US Airways or Continental.

Unusual thing about this brochure, there are no flight schedules or prices.

Does getting A330's make 'commercial' sense at XL?

I thought the idea was to save money - not spend even more?:ugh:

They should have bought A330's years ago - instead of that Air Atlantic Scrap!:hmm:

It would have made more sense.

Have to say i agree with UFGBOY and others, the comments by Paul seemed remarkably uninformed considering his partner had all the information. (And terrible spelling and punctuation...) And the only one getting animated was him...:eek: Simply reading UFGBOY's response would have given him the answers he was seeking.
The A330s are still on order, the company is at last taking the right approach to cutting costs and putting the airline in order. We grew at a ridiculous rate, in too many directions, and now we are getting back on the right path.
Announced today that no pilots will be laid off (except voluntarily), and there has been a lot of communication all the way through.
I think if this restructure is carried through we will be in a much stronger position to get through the winter and have the wonderful summer we are very much overdue!
:8 :)

smudgethecat

Has your father-in-law wondered why half of Explorer House was in TLS last week ?

Heard a rumour that Virgin is intrested in XL, can anyone confirm this!

You dont honestly think someone will be able to confirm that on here do you....?:rolleyes:

According to the father in law his manager who passed on the news about the a330,s also said the company would not exist in its present form for very much longer hence his concern (plus at his age getting employment would be a big problem)

quote ///Heard a rumour that Virgin is intrested in XL, can anyone confirm this!
I'm sure the company spokeman for XL on pprune ALIENS62:ok: will be able to answer the above we await your reply!!

They are meant to be getting their knew aircraft in 2008 anyone know what type they will be?

XL 767-300's on Sanford flights etc this winter.

TF AME Dep MAN last week to Air Ivoire.

I would be surprised at XL going 'Airbus' thou with 330's??:hmm:

Using Mytravel A330's next year for some of the TCD flights to Sanford :)