Virgin Atlantic
 

Looking at taking up to 50 ex MON bus drivers to cover A330 crew shortages.

Good lads!

Virgin Atlantic
 

Sorry, I cannot find via a search a VS thread already on here. Maybe I have missed this information elsewhere?
Can anyone shed any more light on the 4 leased in A330-200s Virgin are taking on board to be based at MAN March to May 2018 ? Thus releasing their own A330-300s to cover the broken 787s at LHR.
Are they Air Berlin machines & who is going to crew them ?
Also, what is the story with the 787s ? How many are grounded and is it really going to take months to fix them?

Due to an issue with supply of RR engines for the 789 apparently. I've also heard that they will be ex Berlin 332's with no PE seats sold

Two 787s on the ground at present. A332s will be crewed by Virgin crews AFAIK

I am hearing these leases are for up to 4 years.

Will these get the VS treatment, and have the same cabins installed, as the rest of the fleet installed?

If the aircraft are being kept for four years, I would hope so!

If not, this is a bit of a two fingers up to Manchester passengers (if this where they are bound), if they can't offer the same hard product as the rest of their fleet, which many passengers will be expecting.

What was Air Berlin's old hard product like on these aircraft, before they vanished? I have only used them within Europe and their product was pretty basic and similar to most LCC in Europe... So Im imagining their long haul product was similar too and will lack lay flat beds in business.

Also the A330-300's replacing the 787's while they are taken off line, will struggle to fly all 787 routes... For example, I doubt A330-300's will have the range to fly the routes like Hong Kong and LAX, maybe the ex-AB A330-200's would be better as the replacement aircraft, having the longer range and should be able to fly even the longer sectors...

I’m not sure if the VS A333s are the bees knees 251T MTOW variants, but they are at least the 247T variants, which can comfortably do UK-US west coast. VS have already recently taken at least 1 A346 out of storage for the ULR routes.

Even the earliest A332 could do Europe-West Coast USA

I believe a couple of them are. Not sure of Reg's, but they are used on the likes of MAN-SFO I think.

One of them (I think VNAP?) was on a test flight over SW UK yesterday, out or Lourdes IIRC

I see there is now also a thread running (R&N) concerning some turnbacks and groundings for Air NZ on RR-powered 789's.

ex Air Berlin A.330 registered G-VMIK to KDAC AIRCRAFT HOLDING LTD, DUBLIN.

Notwithstanding the reg, are we sure that's intended for Virgin and not the breaker's?

It's ten years older than all the other VS A330s, and it has PW engines.

I suppose if VS are looking for a MAN specific sub fleet, presumably as a stop gap until the B789 issues are resolved and A35K is online, the age of the aircraft is less of an issue?

I assume the A332 will be at MAN for 4-5 years; with the A333's returning firstly to replace the B744 (I assume VS will not actually use these to replace the beach fleet) and then the A332s...

So, could be somebody taking the... :ok:

I can confirm that G-VMIK is one of the four aircraft which Virgin is going to lease. :ok:

The 787 issue seems quite serious, to this SLF.

They are talking about adding Premium Economy seats at some point in 2018, which, for a leased fleet, for a short term-ish issue, seems quite permanent!

Confirmed by Reuters a couple of days ago:

Virgin Atlantic plans to lease up to four A330-200s for at least 12 months from March 2018

though note the "up to four".

I assume availability of these and the need for extra aircraft as cover played a big part over other factors such as engine commonality and age (providing the overall condition and hours/cycles are OK). Note how Thomas Cook are going for some ex-Monarch A321's and they're also of a different engine type to their "native" fleet.

VS LHR-BGI
 

https://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en.../barbados.html


suspect that VS could be onto a winner here!

P&O Cruises has a large amount of seats blocked with VS on LHR to BGI giving their passengers a scheduled option out of LHR for the first time in addition to their fly cruise options from LGW and other regional airports using TUI.

I believe this is one of the reasons why VS LHR to BGI is now available in addition to the LGW flights.

VS have some spare slots at LHR and BGI is an excellent addition and with the commitment from P&O Cruises new route will be successful.

Slot sitter? surely not! Seriously there are no West Indies routes ex-LHR except NAS and GCM. For those of us west of London this is a brilliant addition.

I don't think either myself or anyone else has mentioned that it is a slot sitter!

It's only twice a week during the winter season so plenty of odd slots available with VS at LHR so the new BGI route is not necessarily a slot sitter especially with the P&O Cruises commitment behind it which I believe is working well plus it taps into wealthy west London and M4 corridor catchment.

Any idea how the A332 will be crewed? Ex Monarch drivers, AB pilots or internally?

AFAIK it will be all VS employees - probably integrated with all A330 crews as they have taken on others as well as the Monarch people- I know of one BA captain who has joined.

I see a Virgin Atlantic A346 on flight radar Manila to London. Reg G-VNAP. I presume it’s had heavy maintenance at Lufthansa Technik in Manila. Anyone know why it’s been pulled out of storage?

VS has brought various A340s back into service whilst the B787 fleet is grounded due to engine problems.

Ah cheers. Wasn’t even aware of the engine problems of the 787!

RR Trent engine fan blade issue. World dotting with down and out 789s at the moment.

The RR Trent engine flan blade issue problem has been well reported and discussed not only on Pprune but on other aviation websites and has been ongoing for the last year so it's not something that has just occurred and involves various airlines other than Virgin Atlantic.

How long is this issue likely to last?

I should imagine until all the engines on all the affected aircraft are rectified and that doesn't just include VS, I'm not sure how many aircraft are having to have the respective work done but there are some airlines that have already had all theirs replaced as I think it all started with the ANA B788's.

VS are talking about adding PE seats to the ex Air Berlin aircraft. That strikes me as pretty long term.

The engine issues are short term, the A332s are medium term resizing the MAN base. One A346 has been brought back back, G-VNAP currently at Hangar 7 at Gatters in all white scheme. Did they take out all the seats and fittings at end of lease I wonder?

SealinkBF
 

As l reported earlier they are on 4 year leases. :ok:

Looks like the 'short term' AB Airbuses will have yet another unique internal seating arrangement and a different engine type to current own A330s. Presumably the logistical issues associated with both those are outweighed by a quick sourced relatively cheap expansion. The repaint job video of one of the old AB aircraft was nice to watch.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ne...es-love-suite/

I see G-VNAP is now back in service. I watched it arrive at LHR today and I was wondering why it has "a big virgin atlantic thank you" in large letters running the length of the fuselage? Thank you for what?

Maybe it's a thank you to Rolls Royce for the 789 engine issues, which have given VNAP a temporary reprieve from the knackers yard

Logohu: Funnily enough, exactly the same thought occurred to me!

"The paint scheme salutes the work of the 9,000 people around the world who keep our operation running 24/7".

Sleeping Beauty Rejuvenated – welcoming back G-VNAP

Many thanks Dave. Much appreciated.

VS400/1 DXB moving to 787-900 from the winter schedule.

The A330-200s now in operation from MAN.