Branson's preaching from inside the 787 mock up on Sky News now.

To quote him on how airlines can help climate change 'we can get airlines to start their descent higher' What?!?!?! :ugh:

How does this newly found green stance of Branson's fit with Virgin Galactic (I'm stifling a guffaw!)? What are the emissions like for a launch vehicle and (sub)-orbiter used purely to give the super-rich joyrides?

Oooh! Oooh! Look! Another bandwagon!

This order is a great news after so many false starts and rumours!

Easy Ryder - D'oh, you're quite right sorry. Sorry 'bout that.

Good news for Virgin but I think these are replacements for the A340 fleet (300+600). My mates in VS tell me that the 600 performs badly in terms of fuel burn and I think they will eventually off-load these as well. It's really obvious when you think about it, how can Virgin expand at Heathrow without the slots? Of course they may open routes out of the regions or Europe maybe, best of luck to them, I hope they do well.

Virgin
 

The new Virgin Atlantic 787 Dreamliners will enable the airline to continue its global expansion, possibly flying to cities including Rio de Janeiro, Seattle, Vancouver, Bangkok and Melbourne.

FROM THEIR OWN WEBSITE

in today's Telegraph is an article saying they'll fly non-stop first to Perth then to SYD and MEL from 2011..... likely ? possible ?

Vapilot,

The release says no engine selection has been made yet so, presumably, the Trent 1000 is in with a chance - unless experience with the Trent 500 on the 346 has put it out of the running?

Torque

Presumably the engine selection will be swayed by RB's various environmental pledges, specifically that he wants to use biofuels and I think he has a working relationship with GE in this area already. Or maybe it will just boil down to who will give him engines for least cash!

The Trents on the -600 have performed fairly well, few minor issues but nothing unusual for a new version of an engine. As to the rest of the plane......

Virgin is working on the slots issue! The B789 makes a splendid case as a one-for-one replacement of the A343 - similar weight (260T) and capacity (~250 seats in Virgin config) , 27% lower fuel burn, much quiter and longer range. It's less easy to justify as a replacement for the A346 except on routes where that aircraft is too big for the markets served. There aren't many of those!

I don't think anyone would deny that the A346 has been a bit of a disappointment to all the airlines that have flown it. It certainly burns a lot of gas per passenger-km (though the later aircraft are quite a bit better than the early ones) relative to the B773. On the other hand, despite early problems, it's reliable and passengers seem to like it. The cargo departments love it; it's freight capacity is bloody enormous!

It seems to me that the A346 may be a candidate for earlier-than-usual replacement but that event isn't imminent, and it'll be another type that fulfills the role - a developed B773 or A350-1000 seems most likely at the moment. The B789, great aeroplane though it is, doesn't really fit the bill.

The B789 a great aeroplane then how come I've never seen one flying?

Ah it must be because it must be that old "its a Boeing chesnut" personally I rather strap my butt to an Airbus!

Hi all,

Just a few questions regarding this latest order and I'd like to get some of your views.

- As Virgin are working with GE for the bio fuels project which will be implemented in a 744 next year, is it more likely they will go for the GEnx engine for their 787-9 aircraft over the RR offering?

- I realise the 747-400 fleet is still fairly young, but eventually will need replacing. Now Virgin have gone Boeing again, is it true to say the 747-8 is now the favourite as the eventual replacement? I realise there are advantages to this like they operate under the same type-rating, but I wandered whether the Caribbean airport infrastructures would impose handling issues with 747-8 as they do with the A340-600 for example.

Anyway, thank you all for your time.
Kel.

My feeling is the trent 1000 would have to be considered in a different light to the t500's we have hanging off the -600's, why? for a start there wont be four of them per a/c and my understanding is they will be bleedless so based on those two factors I think we can discount experience from the trent 500s, although to reinforce what NWT said they have technically performed well,personally very rarely had the cowls open on the line for anything severe.Touchwood...

BWB said....
"Branson's preaching from inside the 787 mock up on Sky News now.
To quote him on how airlines can help climate change 'we can get airlines to start their descent higher' What?!?!?! "
Aviate1138 muses....
RB will say anything that he thinks will enhance the Virgin 'image'.
Sadly when the 787 is in service how many will have the 'higher cabin humidity and nearer to sea level cabin pressure' that Boeing are trumpeting as a SLF bonus? How much biofuel will RB save by using less humidity and higher/much higher altitudes in the cabin.
Maybe All airlines should have altimeters on their bulkheads like Concorde had the brilliant Mach Meter! Now that aeroplane had higher humidity and lower altitude in the cabin and it made a huge difference to the feeling of well being after a flight - that and having just outsped a bullet while consuming real food and superb alcohol, unless one was at the pointy end of course!
Remember how RB jumped on the Concorde publicity bandwaggon and said Virgin would take over the service? Someone should have called his bluff! :)
Aviate 1138

Italian press report that Virgin Atlantic have plan to open new direct routes from MXP, MAD and ZRH to JFK in 2008

Virgin buying BMI through Lufthansa?
 

Virgin turns to Lufthansa in BMI quest
The Business, Saturday May 12th, 2007


VIRGIN Atlantic, which is keen to buy its smaller rival BMI, has held talks with Lufthansa, the German national flag carrier, a key shareholder in BMI. The move came as Virgin attempted to bypass BMI’s controlling shareholder, Sir Michael Bishop after struggling to make any progress in its overtures to him.
Bishop has until the end of this year to decide whether to exercise an option to sell his stake in BMI, worth around £220m ($437m, E323m). Lufthansa has right of refusal over the shares.
Sir Richard Branson, Virgin’s chairman, told The Business that he has given up on trying to win Bishop over.
“I think we have given up with Michael,” he said, going on to reveal that some of his executives have held talks with Lufthansa to try to explore options. He said he had not been party to the talks. “I personally haven’t, no, but it would be foolish if Virgin Atlantic was not exploring every opportunity. I have always said there is enormous logic to British Midland and Virgin working together; logic for the staff and logic for the travelling public.”
BMI flies predominately short haul routes, and Virgin Atlantic long haul, which would make the two businesses a powerful combination.
A source familiar with the situation said that Lufthansa is a kingmaker with its 30% BMI stake. It has yet to decide, if Bishop sells as expected, whether it wants to hold an auction, form a strategic alliance with a partner airline that would provide feeder traffic for its network, or do a deal over slots. The recent “open skies” deal between America and the European Union has made BMI an even more attractive takeover target because it owns 11.5% of all the take-off and landing slots at Heathrow and these are in short supply.

Sir Michael has waited and campaigned for years for open skies, with his day about to come there is no way he will sell any part of BMI to anyone. Also all of a sudden that part of BMI that LH own is now worth a fortune.