Nationwide 767.

[Speedbird48]

I saw a nice shiny newly painted 767 at Montreal yesterday morning, 11/7,with Nationwide titles, Canadian registration on the fuselage and ZS- numbers under the wing.
It was being towed in the Air Canada maintenance area so I guess Nationwide have a new airplane.

[126,7]

Interesting. Thought the aircraft was supposed to be one of Sobleair's. Or is it one of Air Canada's? Maybe Air Canada needs money very badly while under Chapter 11 protection compared to Sobleair which is already broke??
Unless Nationwide is expandingand need several aircraft............

[REAL ORCA]

Good luck to Nationwide. We hope they are successful in taking this BIG step!

[Gunship]

Can also just say - Good luck Nationwide !

Has anybody go their schedule and prizes and when will they start ? Their web site is a bit "fussy" to operate ?

www.flynationwide.co.za

Cheers,

Gunns

[concordino]

Hi Gunns,
good to see you back on PPRUNE, where have you been ?
looking forward to your contributions in this forum

Cheers

C:ok:

[mercman]

From What I here from one of the new recruits on the 767 is that the first flight will be on the 28th of November and they will be flying JHB - GATWICK-JHB as far as I know.

[Whenwe]

Nationwide will take delivery of ZS-PBI at Shannon next week and should arrive in South Africa next Sunday / Monday. Rumour has it that they will do a few JNB - CPT flights before the 28th for training and publicity flights. Everybody at Nationwide is very excited. ww
:D :ok:

[Flying Bean]

Yes. I am booked to London (Gatwick) with them on the 19th December. (R5500 - not bad).
Only thing is they still do not have their seat map yet so we don't know where we are sitting.
Apparently total of 234 seats of which 50 or 60 are 'economy plus" Same service and type of seat through out, but the economy plus seats have more leg room. Think you pay about R1000 more for these seats.

Here is the original press release:-

Nationwide Airlines is pleased to announce that sales have now opened on our new long-haul Johannesburg - London (Gatwick) service, with the first flight commencing on 28 November 2003

This service will be operated with our latest edition to the fleet, a Boeing 767-300 ER. This aircraft will be configured in an all economy class seating arrangement, offering 234 seats with a generous pitch.

Offering a selection of meals, full bar service and in- flight entertainment, your clients who have been accustomed to the Nationwide Airlines superior onboard service will be more than happy to be traveling with us on a long haul flight.

Initially we will operate three times per week;

Johannesburg - London (Gatwick) Wed / Fri / Sun dep 20.35 arr 05.55 *
London (Gatwick) - Johannesburg Mon / Thu / Sat dep 21.00 arr 10.20 *

The fares are now available in your GDS, we are currently in negotiation with selected, strategic international airlines for add-on fares to USA and Europe.

Thank you for supporting Nationwide Airlines

Chris Hoare
Commercial Executive

[Gunship]

Thanks all for the info. Well I think everyone knows my (unfortunate) sentiments on SAA - so anyone else I will give a try !

I just hope they have good in - flight entertainment otherwise I will stick with BA / Virgin.

A 767 ... striaght to London - no refuelling ? Pressume it is some sort of one with bieeeg tanks ;)

Cheers and have a great day all of you !

Gunnsss

[FuelFlow]

Gunns, Zimbabwe have been flying a 767 from Harare to Gatwick for years.

How they manage to fuel in Harare at all, is enough to make you think!

Good luck Nationwide

[OverRun]

Worth a look at the flight to see how they can do it. Open fresh bottle of red, and switch on slide rule.

JNB-LGW is about 4862 nm. Getting out of JNB might be the first challenge; runway length : 14495 ft. runway elevation : 5557 ft.

The Air Canada 767-300ERs generally had the higher powered engines: CF6-80C2B6F and PW4060 [depending on which spaza shop they got 'em from]. JNB summer days can be ISA+15 degC. For those aircraft and engine combinations, in summer, tyre energy limits takeoff to about 172.5 tonnes, with a runway length needed of 11800 ft. Cooler days @ ISA, tyres limit takeoff to about 176 tonnes, with a runway length of 12100 ft.

OK, so it'll get off the ground with room to spare at JNB.

Operating empty weight is probably closer to 91 tonnes today [aircraft are like me - they get heavier as they get older]. At 172.5 tonnes TOW, with standard [minimal] reserves, it'll haul 24 tonnes payload over the 4862nm, which is 247 pax + bags. At 176 tonnes TOW, with standard [minimal] reserves, it'll haul 26.7 tonnes payload over the 4862nm, which is 275 pax + bags. Not much room there for freight, but since Nationwide aren't freight oriented, no dramas. Should be able to fill the planes and make some money on the route!

Not sure how many seats they're going to stick in. Typical 2 class in the 767-300ER is 269, although an earlier post said 234 in these. With 234 seats and no frieght, the aircraft can operate full all year round.

Not quite sure how they'll handle any requirement for larger amounts of holding fuel. Score one for the evening departure (cooler, and market friendly). But there'll be some close flight-planning occasionally. Especially if they have a few more seats fitted . . . .

[planecrazi]

I believe Air Mauritius hold a record with there B767-200ER, from Gander or St John's to Mauritius, which is incredibly far. Delivery flight.

That's on something like 74/76 tons of fuel for almost 18 hours.

I am open to all corrections and I have seen the plaque, come to think of it, there may be a plaque inside the aircraft, about the flight.

[Kep Ten Jim]

planecrazi -

No, I think that was Air Seychelles - delivery flight - they flew their new 767 from Seattle to Seychelles direct. About a 15 hour flight.

Rumour has it that virtually all the Air Zimbabwe 767 crews have left the airline to join up with Nationwide's new operation.

Any truth in this? If so, I'm not surprised considering what the Air Zim guys have been paid over the years.