If it is written off I wouldn't have thought that LCY would be too keen on a contract scrap merchant coming in to the apron, so presumably it would be the barge to somewhere. Would the wings have to come off to get it out through the lock into the Thames ?

Discussions still ongoing about AR.

When it comes to replacement for tech aircraft, is FLI the new FLT?

@ egnxema.
Looking at the BA website, AMS is down to three frequencies a day. BA8752/3 have been axed. Don't know why and for how long.

AMS is a really good performer. So would this have something to do with creating a spare aircraft at times?

Ams/lcy
 

On BA website it shows they have only withdrawn the BA8452/3 on the 5th, 6th, 12th, 13th, 19th, 20th, 25th (Bank Holiday), 26th and 27th May and back to normal in June

Basically BA8452/3 operates days 1,4 and 5 with the exception of the bank holiday on the 25th.

Just the two random dates (12/19) I picked to confirm the story. Well, now wondering if it's only this month or the rest of the season?

Stand-by aircraft
 

I see that Atlantic Airways now have a RJ85 based at Southend on stand-by for Cityflyer. Has the Titan contract now finished ?

From BBC News
 

25 jobs to go

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Edinburgh, East and Fife | BA jobs go after plane write-off

Interesting article - sounds like this was the "only" option on the table and "regrettably" BA has been left with no choice in the matter......

I am a big BA supporter but please - there really isnt another RJ/BAE parked up somewhere in the world not being used

I know there is slightly more to it than my over simplification of the issue :) but it reads as though there was only one option!

There are plenty of RJs around - one of the more plentiful types available at present. For example, there are the last of the formr Northwest fleet still available.

But with the new fleet of Embraers on the way by the end of the year it is an opportunity to avoid the costs associated with bringing another aircraft in, bringing the cabin up to BA standards, etc. BA have a contract with Titan for a standby aircraft as required, if they don't want to take that up in the medium term they are using this as an excuse for cost-cutting. A competent airline financial planning team (one thing that BA do possess) will have a provision for costs for exceptional events. Unfortunately it seems that budget has been raided to support the corporate bottom line. Whether this would have happened if the LCY operation had been part of Mainline instead of Cityflyer is a topic for discussion.

If only the competition on LCY-Edinburgh were still Scot Airways with their excellent cabin service they would have lost more. Unfortunately that has gone, in favour of the Air France (alias Cityjet) corporate approach which is not nearly as good.

AirFrance is now operating the Scot Airways Edinburgh Service.

The city flyer decision to reduce the LCY - EDI service due to loss of an aircraft is a lame excuse. There are plenty of wetlease A/C available to repalce the damaged A/C ( now allegedly written off - as repairs cannot be completed within period of Lease) but I suspect BA want to reduce capacity before bringing in EMB190 in the autumn.

Whilst I accept it is a genuine excuse I do feel it is a little bit convenient and pehaps if BA were being honest they could have just given economic reasons for reducing service and making staff redundant. BA and honest are not two words that always sit well together.

Air France carry more passengers than Scot Airways did, so surely this means they are more competition not less?

The cost of wet lease is huge, as would the refurb of the old Northwest RJ85's full of sand in the desert!

EDILON market is down loads, and this effects LCY pretty badly with the finance industry in so much trouble.

...I'll excuse the pun :ok:, but you're quite correct:

Jan 2007 29373pax
Jan 2008 22051pax

- 25% :ooh:

Feb 2007 28972pax
Feb 2008 20772pax

-28% :uhoh:

I was at Exeter Airport on Friday and there are a number of Avro RJ/BAe 146 sitting there in storage along with a number of Embraer RJs.

First RJ100 to 'retire' will be 'AW' within a fortnight!

Having already lost ' AR and Flightline, why is this? Replacements are a bit away yet (!) End of lease and expensive to re-sign?

'AW' WFU 29 May, to Exeter 30 May

As you rightly state Cityflyer are already three aircraft down on the operational fleet of last December, and AW has also now left. It ferried to Exeter last Saturday for hand-back, and AX is due to follow next month with all this quite a few months ahead of the replacement Emb's coming on-line.

We'll propably end up with one sole remaining RJ just before the first E-jet arrives... :eek:

Is business that bad or is it good but with no yield?

Cityflyer cant reduce any further aircraft until the new aircraft come, so doubt ZAX will be next month.

Can't see them sending any more aircraft back before the delivery of the 1st E170 in September

Also just noticed on jethros they have added the new aircraft regs and expected delivery dates. They will continue with the G-LCY- regs they started with the two RJ85's.

E170's

G-LCYD expected 01SEP09 (I/S 28SEP09)
G-LCYE expected 08SEP09 (I/S 28SEP09)
G-LCYF expected 26OCT09
G-LCYG expected NOV09
G-LCYH expected DEC09
G-LCYI expected JAN10


E190SR's

G-LCYJ expected MAR10
G-LCYK expected APR10
G-LCYL expected APR10
G-LCYM expected MAY10
G-LCYN expected JUN10


Meaning all deliveries will be made in time for the peak summer 2010 timetable.


Timetable Changes

BACF will increase NCE to 2 x daily with the re introduction of the afternoon service 03Aug09 - 01SEP09.

The BA8737/BA8738 LCY/FRA/LCY will not operate from 03AUG09-31AUG09 MON-FRI.

Thanks BAladdy. We were just discussing the reg issue on the flightdeck the other day. Very good to see they continued the LCY regs!

Also heard the initial two aircraft delivery dates have been pulled forward by two weeks resulting in the dates mentioned above. First routes for the 170 will be EDI and AMS.

In case anyone wondered why we didn't use the LCYA reg for the RJ85, it was used on a Dassault Falcon 900EX by the London City Jet Aviation Centre.

BACF's currently need 7 RJ100's and 2 RJ85's to operate their current schedule so they could send one more back before the E-JETS go into service on the 28th September. This would however mean there would be No standby aircraft.

Who are the RJ100's leased through??. Does anyone know the dates they are meant to be handed back?.

Also what date the 2 RJ85's leases comes to a end??. They were only delivered last year.... Could the 2 RJ85's stick about until after the Summer 2010 schedule to allow for additional frequencies and new routes??

dont forget that BA still have options on the EMB's so if they like what they get and expansion/new routes is on the cards when things start picking up i would expect to see them take the options.

CS

They are leased from BAE and all but one of the RJ100's are due to be handed back this year, although this could change. Which will leave just the two RJ85's and one RJ100 to return.
So the currrent plan sees a fleet of 5 Emb's and 3 RJ's by year end.

What is the current load factor of the Cityflyer flights? Replacing a 110seat RJ100 with a 70seat E170 is a significant reduction of capacity (as the larger E190s will not arrive for another 12 months or). Or is Cityflyer not selling a third or so of the seats on RJ100 for performance / comfort reasons?

E-Jet Ownership
 

Will the E-Jets be owned by BA or will they be leased?

virginblue - they are most certainly still filling the RJ to capacity - I frequently have uncomfortable journeys in them :{

We got one of the 15-row RJ versions recently ... must have only been on the GLA route as another plane was out of commission - it was sheer luxury in comparison!

What is the situation regarding crewing of the new Embraer's. Given that there were originally 11 RJ's and they will be replaced by another 11 a/c, does this change the required number of pilots and cabin crew?

Expect new routes from LCY next year. Source confidential.

This is a poor practice which one can find elsewhere, eg on the railway, where assets start to be disposed, or at least withdrawn from service, before their replacements are delivered and commissioned, and leads inevitably to unreliability of service.

Regarding the aircraft handed back at end of lease, most leases make provision for the lease to be extended short-term on the same terms if both parties agree. As BAe appear to have no new customer in prospect for the aircraft (which may indeed be performing their last commercial services here) they wouldn't be averse, I'm sure, to maintaining fleet strength for a while, so it just seems parsimony on the part of BA. I can't believe the whole fleet is coming up for major and expensive checks all at once.

Cabin Crew compliment will reduce from 3 to 2. They need to reduce the headcount by about 25. The head count is to drop at the EDI base. It is hoped it will be achieved through part time working, unpaid leave and voluntary severence.

The aircraft are owned by BA.

The BA routes are high yielding ex LCY. They easily fill the second 0720 ex EDI M-Thu and the 1600 Wed-Fri. The last 2 ex LCY most nights. Otherwise they can have anything between 20-60 pax during the day,

FRA, AMS, ZRH, GLA and MAD will be more suited to the E170 than the RJ's when it comes to loads.

ZAX wont leave the fleet until the E170 enters service, the RJ fleet cant operate with no spare, it's not relaible enough. The fleet needs to remain at 10 hulls, 9 of which operational. In the current climate the only routes that need high capacity are morning and evening GLA and EDI flights as mentioned by BA Laddy. I guess this will change in the coming year or two when the economy starts to pick up. It will be interesting to see if new routes do start next summer, all depends on economy and competition I guess. Some EDI flights are on sale on E170 in Oct.

so any suggestions as to what the new routes are likely to be ?

Does anyone know if there is any plans for pilot recruitment for the embraer? I hear that alot of the pilots are due to be retrained from the RJ, but will they need any extra hands?

Depends on what the range will be for the new aircraft.

I don't think the E-Jets have the range but the one route BA would make a alot of money on ex LCY is DME. BA carry alot of customers on the LHR/DME that are in the banking business. LCY would cut out around 2-3 hours off there journey time.

That route a side any of the following routes would probably do well as BA have a large number of corperate account in those cities

DUS,
HAM,
STR,
OSL,
ARN,
HEL,
LIN ( 2 flights a day and would be much more popular than the failed MXP was)


I also reckon they will try and add another leisure route or two. If the aircraft has the range AGP and FAO would be well recieved and used by those who work in the city and go down there for golf weekends etc. Other possible leisure routes PRG, BUD, VCE, and FCO.

Even if the Embraer (or even the A318) had the range out of LCY (and I don't think they do) Moscow DME would be improbable, as the UK-Russia market is still tightly regulated, and the Russians would never agree to anything that didn't give at least an equal advantage to their own carriers. Not a competitive approach, but at least they look after their own. Always have done, always will do.

The list of routes suggested as likely to do well unfortunately contains too many points which have failed in the past.

LCY only does well from major business destinations, inbound early morning, outbound afternoon/evening, so not for aircraft actually based at LCY. Everything else is a filler that hopefully covers its direct operating costs. If LCY allowed operators to park during the day I'm sure we would see a lot of aircraft stood there between morning and evening. However there isn't the ground space to permit this.

Damaged RJ100 at LCY
 

Passing through LCY last weekend and noticed they have erected a large scaffolding/hoarding around G-BXAR.

Does this mean it's being a) scrapped b) repaired or c) other ???

a) scrapped