First Choice

[NEastMidlands]

Theres a few rumour going around that there is further expansion on the long haul side of things. Mainly expansion of routes, and again coming back to NEMA for 06 with more routes! To do this they will be adding three more B767 aircraft - G-OOBM - G-OOBN and G-OOBO and continuing with the Star Class.

Maldives and Goa In Summer 2006 are also supposed to be happening on first choice flights where as they do not this year.

As for shorthaul there are to be no further changes made.

Can anyone confirm this or is it just a rumour?

[phil_2405]

I have heard the FCA NEMA long-haul routes have been selling very well.

[NEastMidlands]

Thats Official - They have been selling as well as expected for new routes, so lets hope these rumours that are flying around are true.

[WindSheer]

I think we will see some changes in S06. Some flights from other bases in the UK is looking good - particularly the southwest.

Lets see...........

[airhumberside]

Anything new likely for HUY?

Isnt a new base at EXT rumoured?

[NEastMidlands]

Yes well there has to be some announcments soon as holidays go on sale in April.

[30W]

There certainly won't be any Long Haul from EXT!! The R/W is too short to lift a 767 acroos the pond from, even with FCA's new 767 config.

[aeulad]

Any new FCH flights for summer 2006 are likely to come about because the tour operators want to get people to the resorts, not because thats where the airline wants to fly.

It is unlikely that HUY will get any new FCH flights, however, there is word on the street that summer 2006 will see a Thomas Cook/First Choice flight to Bulgaria, whether such a flight would be operated by FCH is doubtful as the only possible W patter airport with Bulgaria flights in Manchester.

I would maybe expect a Cancun flight from Newcastle.

Regards

Mike

[airhumberside]

I hope any new Bulgaria flight is to Varna since there is already Bourgas. TCX maybe?

[WindSheer]

aeulad - correct, FCA only fly where FCH want them to fly!!

Exeter runway too short?? Dont they do winter new york shopping trips? I saw one the year before last - a BY 767-300.

[Fandango71]

hi

anything rumoured for S06 out of LBA?

[UPS@EMA]

Are there any new long haul flights planned for EMA ??? Also what about the winter ops? are they going to expand with poss l/h to caribbean maybe???

Regards

Stu

[HH6702]

Expect to see first choice base aircraft at NCL

TCX are wanting both aircraft for themselfs for summer 2006

[afterdark]

How is FCA's long haul fleet modifications coming on ?

Will they be completed on time for the summer season?

How many 763's are there\will there be, in the fleet ?

thanks to anyone that has any info

[NEastMidlands]

G-OOAN the second refurbished after G-OOBK is due back this week. The bad news is that G-OOBL is slightly behind schedule and wont arrive till mid May, Britannia covering some flights for first choice.

However the refubrishment quality is amazing and worth the wait.

By End of May this will be the fleet,

G-OOAN
G-OOBK
G-OOBL.

By Summer 2006

G-OOAN
G-OOBK
G-OOBL
G-OOBM

and By Winter 2006

Two Ex Eva Airways B767's

G-OOBN
G-OOBO.

[terrier21]

So what do you Reckon GOOBO for BRS?!!!

[NEastMidlands]

There are endless possiblitys from Winter 2006, put it that way.

[afterdark]

i hope it is done by july for sanford flight

[NEastMidlands]

i dont think there is any doubt about July.

[DELTABOY]

a neighbour of mine has just flown with FCA long haul & said the aircraft was excellent, bright, clean & very spacious. thought the legroom & width of seats felt much better than the last time they flew FCA ,especially with the new 2-3-2 layout which the B-767 was initially designed for. They thought it was a brand new aircraft when they first stepped onboard & felt it was equal if not superior to other 'scheduled' airline longhaul products. I think their onto a winner with this one. the public have really had enough of the sheer misery of charter longhaul air travel & i think it has come to the time when people will vote with their feet by only selecting a long haul holiday if they know that the flights will be tolerable. lets hope it becomes a great success for FCA!:ok:

[tallseabird]

Are FCA revamping their entire B767 fleet, including increasing the seat pitch through out the a/c

[30W]

Yes all FCA 767's will be in the new config. The change is NOT happening as smoothly as suggested however. AN is now at least 3 1/2 weeks overdue. That's not all bad in itself as the new config has not been 'sold' to the public for flights before May 1st.

Currently however many who should be flying long haul FCA routes are being flown via Canada on 757's whilst AN's refit overruns.

BL has been sold to the public for flights as of May 1st. Judging by the lateness of both BK and AN to date I don't think realistically it will make the UK in May at all!! Standby for chaos whilst it's flights are either operated on 757's or subbed out to a third party operator....... There is no option.

Which routes in May will be effected seem so far unannounced. If you happen to be on a FCA 767, then you'll love it, it really is very good, but the conversion project IS behind schedule and passengers will be effected for a good while yet :-(

[afterdark]

any more updates yet on how the new refitted aircraft is coming along G-OOBL considering the summer season is now up and running and many of the transatlantic long haul flights are now operational ?

what is happening to G-OOAL is this the aircraft that is away getting refitted and will be re-registered (into G-OOBL ) ?

by the way are all the refitting jobs incl IFE done at Sharjah

[NEastMidlands]

G-OOAN is back and operating.

G-OOBL is due back mid May time.

G-OOAL will be returned to Boeing.

[EK-LHR-LGW-GLA-MAN-B]

Will the GLA-POP flight on the 29th of July be operated by a one of the new layout 767s?

[NEastMidlands]

yes! it should be.

[mmeteesside]

G-OOBK is also back, operated out of Glasgow yesterday

[NEastMidlands]

G-OOBK has been in service since March, AN since end of April.

[afterdark]

Why are First Choice flying to Sanford via Bangor on a 757 instead of direct on their highly promoted 767's ?

this aircraft ferried up from Manchester this morning after doing yesterdays Man-Sfb-Man arriving there this morning

this aircraft cannot surely hold a 767's load and they are surely not flying folxs over the pond on a european short haul configured aircraft can they ?

anyone got any info on this cheers

[ProjectManager]

Apparently, at least 1 of their 767's is in the Middle East getting the interior refurb, and delivery is behind schedule.

That at least is what our Captain told us 3 weeks ago when I pitched up at MAN for a much anticipated holiday to Montego Bay, and found our 8 3/4 hour flight in the new "super-duper interior" B767 actually becoming a 12 hour hell via St Johns in a B757.

Hats off to the hosties tho - you could tell that they were p*ssed about the a/c, but kept up a smile as the toilets failed one by one etc. They certainly made the flight a little more tolerable.

Quite funny in St Johns, catering uplift for the second leg to Jamaica came out of the hold, and being as we weren't allowed off the a/c, everyone joined in passing the boxes along the cabin. Not so sure about the storage of gash in boxes in the overhead bins, but I suppose when needs must.

Hope this helps

PM

[GrahamK]

Possibly using 2 757s due to a 767 going tech?

[afterdark]

there was only 1 757 at Glasgow this morning and its on route to BGR at the moment

dunno what the passengers must think looking forward to 1 thing and getting total opposite

[BALIX]

dunno what the passengers must think looking forward to 1 thing and getting total opposite

Do you think most pax will realise? I suspect most people decide which ticket to buy on cost and timings, departure airport etc and won't have a clue as to what type of aircraft, or even what airline they are flying.

[coair]

your guy is correct the 3rd 767 a/c bl will not arrive in the uk till the end of the month
flts from gla for next fri/sat/sun are being subchartered to loftlieder on a b767 routing man/gla/sfb/man on fri
man/gla/pop/cun/gla/ncl on sat/sun
hope this helps guys

[bmibaby.com]

Whilst I'd agree with BALIX that usually most passengers choose their flights on the timings & the overall cost, one of the main points that FCA have been HEAVILY promoting in all of their brochures for the last few months is the new Star Class service. Travelling by holiday airline is stereotyped to usually be uncomfortable with poor service, so the Star Class would have been very appealing to many package pax. Hope nobody was disappointed ...

[afterdark]

I aggree with bmibaby.com this was one of my points First Choice have been heavily pushing there new long haul service but to sell someone a 'Star Class' product only to give them something totally different is shamefull on them. Considering they have known this was happening

I think they should have atleast outsourced the flights to another carrier with suitable aircraft and seating,or, of all the aircraft lying around in this world with nothing to do there is one somewhere they could have leased/subcharted for a couple of weeks till they have their own suitable aircraft.

Granted I dont know the loads but how can you fit a 763's load into a 752 ?

[Ambulance 'Charlie Alpha']

Unless of course, they'd only sold enough holidays to fill a 752 by the time of departure? Just a thought.

ACA

[BALIX]

I know what yo meean guys but the point I was making was that most pax won't know the differecnce as most pax are pretty ignorant when it comes to aeroplane maters.

Especially the sort of pax you are likely to find on board a FCA flight to Sanford :E

[jmccrew]

Think you might find that passengers, are far more savy than you give credit for BALIX .... The give them SPAM and say its HAM no longer works these days ..as they have far more choice than ever .Do you own a property in Orlando ? many of our passengers do.

[BALIX]

Indeed jmccrew, which is why I emphasized the word most and not all. It is only a hunch but I would reckon that more than half (ie, most) of your pax wouldn't know the difference between a 757 and a 767. They probably would know the difference between a nine hour direct flight and an eleven hour flight that stops Goose Bay mind you.

And no, I don't own an Orlando property, though I've stayed in a couple and very nice they were too. Flew with AA and Delta. The irony was that the scheduled flights were cheaper than FCA's charter flights.

(BTW, in case you think I'm FCA bashing, I'm not. I will be utilising your service to Paphos in October. It should be a 757!)

[Tempsford]

I recently flew LGW-HOG-LGW on a new FCA B763 with the new interior (leather seats, seat back video etc) and was very impressed with the aircraft. Seat pich in the rear cabin was also very good and talking to some of the folks in the front of the a/c in the Premier Star Class they were impressed as well. The negative points were poor standard of catering on both sectors and some of the cabin crew could have done with a charisma injection. And before anyone says it, besides being there for your safety, it's their job to be pleasant to the customers and not act as though they are doing us a favour by serving us. Also be aware that the IFE package in the Star Class is basic and you will have to pay an additional £5 each way to upgrade to the full package.
Just a word of warning for those folks going to HOG. Besides a 25 Convertible Peso Departure Tax, you will be charged excess baggage charges. Even though our suitcases were lighter ex HOG than they were ex LGW (where we were not charged excess baggage), we were 4 kgs over total for the two of us and were charged nearly £30 for the privilege so beware. I cannot gripe at this as my ticket clearly stated 20kg allowance, but to be charged 2 kgs excess on a Charter Flight was somewhat unusual.
Well done FCA, you have certainly set the standard cabin wise for the other operators. I have worked in the industry for a long time and flown with numerous operators and your new cabin is like a breath of fresh air. (I don't and never have worked for First Choice).


Temps

[NEastMidlands]

Not long now until G-OOBL arrives to solve all these problems. Shame it was late though and got FCA off to a reasonably bad start with there new service from May.

[WindSheer]

FCA were badly let down by G-OOBK. It spent months having the interior kitted out and it looks superb. However, it has been badly hit by 'no go' tech problems. Remove the a/c from a fleet of three and you get huge logistical problems replacing it.

When the additional a/c arrive the service will settle into one of the best in the UK!

[bradfordboy]

Being a fairly frequent visitor to Sanford I recently booked 4 seats on FCA from Manchester on the 11th June at an inflated price in the hope of testing their new seating.
Will not be too jolly if we end up going via Bangor. Does anyone know what chances we have of getting the 757?



:mad: :mad:

[WindSheer]

You will only get a 757 if there are probles within the fleet of 767's. It all seems to be calming down slowly - hopefully you will get what your expecting!!

[bradfordboy]

Many thanks for your reply.

:D

[ProjectManager]

bradfordboy

Looks like you might just about be OK if FCA get their RS into gear!

If they were behind schedule 4 weeks ago when I took the 757 Canadian Mystery Tour to Montego Bay, then someone should be strung up if the B767 STILL hasn't pitched up by Jun. Penalty clauses only go so far.

I wonder what happens to people who booked the super - - super dooper class seats on the B767? As the B757 is all basically cattle class, then what recompence would those upgraded to the comparatively posh bit up front get?

Surely a mere refund of the upgrade cost isn't sufficient? After all, the very availability of these seats may have been a deciding factor in booking the trip...

[afterdark]

why did they not refurbish their own 763's during the winter or were the 10 year leases up ?

does anyone know if the 757 (G-OOBA) they were using from Man/Gla to Sanford was still in short haul configuration or was changed to longer pitch and leather seating like G-OOOX was when it was on a private lease to TCS Expeditions

[ProjectManager]

At a guess, the aircraft I flew to MJB on was still in short-haul config. Certainly no leather seats, and it felt like less room than the BY763 that brought us back (thankfully direct) to MAN.

Short-haul config, coupled with tech-stop in Canada, amounted to a less than pleasant travelling experience.

Many years ago, I travelled 3 times with AMM (B757) to BGI, and went via Bangor each time. Had I known at the time of booking that my MJB flight would be following this pattern, it might have influenced my decision.

All we got however, was a letter explaining the situation at check-in.

[30W]

afterdark,

AL came to the end of it's lease in April. By that time BK (not used by FCA before) was online, but delivered late (almost 1 month), by the maintainance organisation in AUH.

AN should have been back from refit in AUH by the time AL left. It was not, and again was delivered to FCA about 1 month late. For a period of several weeks FCA were left with only one 767 during April. A 767 was wet leased in from Holland for 2 weeks to help cover, but passenger response/reliability/punctuality was even worse than operating on our own 757's!! Examples being Mexico flights having to operate via AMS as Mexican authorities would not allow a non 'G' registered aircraft to operate into Mexico from the UK.

BL should have been delivered by the start of May, and yes, again, is about 1 month behind. Due now beginning of June. The first couple of weeks of May only required 2 767's to operate, but as of then 3. Hence until BL arrives, some flights have to be downgraded to 757, or subbed out. Most have been downgraded, using 757's in the normal 233 config. Even so this has resulted in 20+ seats not being available on the day, and those pax being rebooked to destination with Virgin or any other UK operator.

This weekend some flights are being operated by an Iceland 767 whilst BL's arrival is still awaited. The vast majority of FCA long haul IS being operated by it's own 767's. Pax response on these flights is EXTREMELY good, and the cabin config is definately a winner. I travelled on one 'down the back' only a few days ago, and found it comfortable with no leg room issues at all.

[WHBM]

Examples being Mexico flights having to operate via AMS as Mexican authorities would not allow a non 'G' registered aircraft to operate into Mexico from the UK. This seems a bit the pot calling the kettle black. A goodly part of the Mexican airline fleet seems to operate on flag-of-convenience registrations, in many cases USA ones.

[afterdark]

Pax response on these flights is EXTREMELY good, and the cabin config is definately a winner. I travelled on one 'down the back' only a few days ago, and found it comfortable with no leg room issues at all.]
My point exactly, this is what the passengers were expecting, something new, vibrant, exciting, comfortable, entertaining.... weren't they ?

The whole point of this thread was to highlight the disapointment suffered by most passengers boarding these flights, I appreciate that things can go wrong with anything at anytime, but, to sell holidays, long haul at that, blowing a trumpet about their excellent new cabins with lots of legroom, comfort and IFE, then upon arrival to check in you are told you will be squeezed like sardines on an aircraft with what i assume to be low grade IFE if any not to mention a fuel stop on route, should this be acceptable ?

the least in my humble opinion they should have done was reconfigure the seating.

[flyingbee]

the least in my humble opinion they should have done was reconfigure the seating

Afterdark, if you mean reconfigure the seats on the 757 to give extra legroom it is at least a days work. During the summer season I don't think they have the aircraft availability to have an aircraft out of service to then remove revenue generating seats. Then it would have to be reversed, and also couldn't then be used for short-haul hops because it's not got enough seats until being reconfigured back........

I understand it must be very disappointing to not get the super aircraft expected. I am not trying to support FCA with this, just guessing why they wouldn't give extra legroom on the replacement 757.

Sorry if I've misunderstood you.

flyingbee

[30W]

afterdark,

Yes I fully agree there is dissapointment - I would be also at having booked (at least partially) on this basis.

Bottom line is FCA have been let down with delivery dates on these aircraft, the delivery dates promised were realistic, however not achieved by the third party maintainance contractor in AUH responsible for the refits.

As pointed out, to refit the 757 is at least a days work, in fact 2 are given prior to a TCS charter. This is not possible at the last minute with other 'normal' summer program commitment on the aircraft.

The answer I suppose would be to do what any low cost carrier does when there is a problem, or even large scheduled airline in fact - cancel the service!! Now, how many would like that at the last minute on a 2 week holiday compared with a 757 flight - I really suspect not many!!!

There's NO painless solution - but perhaps the less of 2 evils............

30W

[pwalhx]

A friend of mine is due to fly Manchester to Sanford tomorrow. He was advised last week that the new style aircraft wasn't available and told he will be travelling on an Icelandic aircraft.

They also said they hoped that he would return on the refurbished aircraft.

They have refunded all the cost of upgrading for the trip both ways, even though he may get what he paid for coming back.

He is quite happy as they have bothered to tell him in advance, they have paid his money back and he still has a chance of upgraded service on the return.

So looks like they are making a reasonable fist of keeping their customers informed and I think they should be applauded for this.

How many other carriers bother to do this?

[330-Purser]

The Loftleider aircraft was at MAN today, looked clean and tidy!

At least FCA have called the pax to tell them, gives them a fightening chance to get DVT socks before the cramped journey!

Hehehe!!!

[afterdark]

I am glad to hear that First Choice have been informing passengers ( or some at least ) of the expected aircraft unavailability, the family I took to the airport on day of travel to Sanford were actually looking forward to the trip and I was looking forward to picking them up and finding out how good the flight was in respect to the other charter flights we have had together accross to Sanford.

In respect to a days work to refit a 757 and i would think that they had more than the two days notice that they have for the TCS charters.. This transatlantic flight for a 757 was not a one-off they were using it for a few flights so they could have kept the aircraft in a decent seat pitch config. couldnt they ?

I aint knocking FCA, I think their new long haul service is a breath of fresh air, good luck with it and i hope it grows from strength to strength, I just thought maybe they could have done a little more than they did on this occasion.

[30W]

"In respect to a days work to refit a 757 and i would think that they had more than the two days notice that they have for the TCS charters.. This transatlantic flight for a 757 was not a one-off they were using it for a few flights so they could have kept the aircraft in a decent seat pitch config. couldnt they ?"

Theoretically yes, but you forget the 2 days worth of refitting before, and after the transatlantic flights. The summer season is up and running, and these 4 lost days may well have meant a lack of an aircraft for several European flights, meaning big delays for them and their passengers.

One forgets also that the TCS config is for 88 seats, so out of say 256 booked passengers, there are no seats for what, 168 pax when they arrive........ Finding alternative seats elsewhere for that volume of people is next to impossible, and if some of those are put onto other UK charter flights going the same direction, they will have the same seat pitch as on an FCA 757. Finding seats elsewhere for for 23 or so (256-233) passengers is a much different ballgame.

In short, to move 88 people in TCS config actually creates a much larger problem, and in the end those displaced off the flight will probably find themselves travelling in small split numbers on other UK charter flights, not necessarily the same day, but certainly with the same final seat pitch of a normal 29" config of a 757.

[afterdark]

purely out of interest if the seat pitch on a 752 was either 30 or 33 inch how many pax would it be able to hold ? anyone know .

[flyingbee]

The Thomas Cook B757-200 for Canadian Affair which is configured at 35" seat pitch throughout has 187 seats.

FCA B757-200 have 233 seats.

Monarch 235

MyTravel 233

Thomas Cook 235

Britannia 235 (and 1, G-BYAR, with 219 but I don't know the seat pitch for that one or why it has fewer seats)

So I don't know how many seats there would be at 33" seat pitch but you can guess somewhere inbetween 187 and 233.

flyingbee

[NEastMidlands]

different seating depends on toilet positions as well.

[WindSheer]

You won't see the TCS seats unless you pay the 50 odd thousand dollars for one of the trips!!

[Save It]

I've booked with first choice to Florida for 8th September. I've been tracking their flights from Manchester for the last few days seeing if there are any delays. Today the flight has landed at Bangor, USA

Does anyone know why? Was there a problem on the 763?

[danjones]

The flight was on a Boeing 757-200, which has to stop and refuel.

[Save It]

757-200 :mad:

What happend to the new 767-300 with extra legroom and new mood lighting:(

[Shanwickman]

Last time I looked Bangor was in Maine USA

[GrahamK]

From that other site courtesy of "Crosswind":

G-OOBL went tech in Cancun on Tuesday morning.

This resulted in a 22 hour delay to Wednesday's Gatwick-Varadero, which departed this morning on G-OOBL. To eliminate the knock-on delays, G-OOBK had to be positioned down to LGW this morning to operate the Porlamar (on-time) and the Manchestet-Sanford flight was downgraded to a 757 (G-OOOK) via Bangor but is operating on-time as well.

[Save It]

How would they been able to fit all the 767-300 passengers on a 757-200. Presuming it's full or nearly full, surly they would have been around 50 pax who they wouldn’t have space for?

[GrahamK]

The 767s now have a config for approx 250 pax or so, and with the 235 seat 757, then presumably any left overs would have been put on another airline?

[LDG_GEAR _MONITOR]

save it - normally the extra 28 pax (if the 767 is full) get put on schedule flight. the rest go on a downgraded 757 - gives you an idea of how much space there is on the new 767 ! and as for complaining about the downgrade if i had option of on time 757 with fuel stop or a 22 hr knock on delay i know what id be doing - an it wouldnt be 24 hrs in the UK just for the free hoteletc !!

[fly20]

Hey all - was just wondering.... Has anyone else heard about the rumour that FCA are pulling out of CWL next summer and moving their aircraft to EXT? Heard this was a possibility with 2 a/c being based their for next summers charters?
fly20

[Buster the Bear]

TUI have stated a based 757 and 737-800 for Cardiff summer 06, so is there the market for other charter operators at Cardiff?

Do not ask me, I am just a bear that visits Cardiff regularly!

Tour operators/airlines will fly from where there is a market. Maybe First Choice consider the market at Exeter having more long term potential?

http://static.zsl.org/images/width150/bear-04-web-305.jpg

[airhumberside]

TUI have stated a based 757 and 737-800 for Cardiff summer 06, so is there the market for other charter operators at Cardiff?
There is also a substanial Excel program at CWL next summer

[30W]

fly20,

I have the full proposed S06 plot for FCA in front of me. It has no aircraft based at EXT, however the normal full program for an A320 based at CWL.

What plans may be past that point however I have no idea, but certainly heard no rumour of a full time unit for EXT.

S06 plot for EXT is:-

Mon: MAH ('w' pattern from MAN on 757)
Wed: PFO ('w' pattern from CWL on A320)

Thats all I'm afraid...........

30W

[fly20]

maybe i was getting confused with the W05 programe. they are def basing 1a/c at EXT this winter - but perhaps they going to base 2?

[MerchantVenturer]

fly20

Where did the information come from about FCA basing an a/c at EXT this winter?

There is a regular poster on the BRS thread who is well-informed on FCA matters, especially in the south west corner of Britain. I don't know whether he will visit this thread so I will briefly summarise his views, as I remember them.

Earlier in the year he did think EXT might become a FCA base next summer but in recent times has gone cold on this idea.

Last winter he said that the EXT FCA flights were operated by the CWL-based a/c and crew, and apparently the seemingly anomalous position obtained whereby the a/c was being used as much, if not more, out of EXT than out of CWL with the crews having to be positioned from their Welsh base to operate the flights. This gave rise to the not surprising thought that EXT might become a base, though not necessarily instead of CWL.

If EXT does become a base I would be amazed if it starts with two aircraft. BRS is one of the biggest regional FCA bases in the country yet even here there are only two A 321s based in summer and one A 321 in winter.

[WATABENCH]

No FCA are staying in CWL nxt summer, and no plans for perm EXT base at mo, there were a lot of rumours going round but its not true, CWL 320 summer/EXT 320 winter, same as last year:ok:

PS Spot on MV, I have visited!! and you have explained it all perfectly.
Whether the situation will change at the end of the winter I dont know, but you can be sure either myself or Windsheer with our vast inside knowledge of all things FCA will let y\'all know asap

[CWL_Chris]

What routes does FCA currently operate out of CWL?

BTW, my girlfriend was flying from BRS to Greece. All she told me was that she was going to Halkadiki. She flew out on a Monday, does anyone have any idea what airline and airport she uses.

Regards,
Chris

[MerchantVenturer]

What routes does FCA currently operate out of CWL?
Chris,

This summer - Bodrum, Mahon, Bourgas, Corfu, Kefalinnia, Reus, Lanzarote, Paphos, Larnaca, Dalaman, Malaga, Tenerife, Alicante, Palma and possibly others.

As for your girlfriend, the airline is Britannia/Thomsonfly on the Monday flight from BRS to SKG (Thessaloniki Airport) I believe.

[WATABENCH]

Chris - TUI mate

[CWL_Chris]

Cheers guys for the information on FCA and the flight out of BRS.

I have to be honest, I had never heard of Halkadiki. I thought it was an Island, until I looked at my atlas!

Regards,
Chris

[WATABENCH]

BRS is FCA's biggest regional base behind MAN and LGW it handles more than BHX, GLA, EMA, STN, BFS, DUB, LTN and of course CWL, but it does remain a mystery not just to outsiders but crew and other company workers as to why FCA think that they cannot get the business to base CWL all year.:confused:
as well as operate the EXT winter prog, in my humble opinion there is more than enough business to operate year round BRS/EXT/CWL programmes alongside each other, theres probley enough to increase in BRS during winter aswell, XLA and KM will be picking up that business now though

[NEastMidlands]

Could FirstChoice not use two more A321's around. EMA seems to be getting more popular, base one there, and the other CWL, EXT rotations.

[fly20]

That is what i was wondering, the EXT charters are nearly always full according to my source, and FCA could prob base a 757 there all year round and operate full flights everyday. If EXT can fill a A310 to YYZ (altho it is split with BHX it still carries 100+ pax per week) surely EXT could have some more longer haul services, to stop south-west pax going to LGW/LHR/BHX?
FCA if your reading this then get some a/c based at EXT!!!

[Localiser Green]

According to the latest statistics at Flightontime.info (http://www.flightontime.info/charter/charter.html).

So far this summer, the ranking is:

1. First Choice Airways (17.1 mins av. delay)
2. Thomsonfly (17.5 mins av. delay)
3. MyTravel Airways (27.8 mins av. delay)
4. Thomas Cook Airlines (27.9 mins av. delay)
5. Monarch Airlines (30.5 mins av. delay)
6. Excel Airways (36.2 mins av. delay)
7. Astraeus (44.6 mins av. delay)
8. Flyjet (56.4 mins av. delay)

Shame to see delays up for all carriers compared with last summer (except for MyTravel).

Biggest increase in average delay was for Thomas Cook (up by 80% from last year).

[GOLF-INDIA BRAVO]

I would think that with all this bad weather other side of the Atlantic
in last few days it`s going to add quite a lot to to the averages for some of the airlines

G-I-B

[Localiser Green]

The transatlantic routes flown by these airlines actually make up quite a small proportion of the overall operation so I doubt any significant effect would be seen.

[lee.b]

1ST (AVG DELAY MINS) 2ND (WITHIN 15MINS) 3RD (1HOUR+) 4TH (3HOURS +) 5TH ( TOTAL FLIGHTS)
1 (2) First Choice Airways(15.13) (77.94) (5.42) (1.28) (8,833)
2 (1) Thomsonfly * (12.82) (83.12) (4.55) (0.91) (10,526)
3 (7) MyTravel Airways (28.15) (67.84) (11.52) (3.04) (8,586)
4 (3) Thomas Cook Airlines (15.52) (79.91) (6.46) (1.57) (8,603)
5 (6) Monarch Airlines (26.46) (66.38) (10.14) (2.67) (4,574)
6 (4) Excel Airways (21.68) (72.95) (7.65) (2.34) (5,049)
7 (5) Astraeus (24.39) (68.63) (8.87) (3.08) (1,849)
8 (8) Flyjet (36.69) (44.97) (16.14) (2.65) (378)

FIRST CHOICE AVG DELAY 15MINS
THOMSONFLY 12MINS
MYTRAVEL 28MINS
THOMAS COOK 15MINS
MONARCH AIRLINES 26MINS
EXCEL 21 MINS
ASTRAEUS 24MINS
FLYJET 36MINS

+3HOURS DELAY
HIGHEST % 1ST

ASTRAEUS
MYTRAVEL
MONARCH
FLYJET
EXCEL
THOMAS COOK
FIRSTCHOICE
THOMSONFLY

[Localiser Green]

Those figures and ranking are for last year (i.e. for the comparable period Apr-Jul 2004). The Apr-Jul 2005 figures are in my post.

See http://www.flightontime.info/charter/charter.html

[flyer55]

Can anybody confirm or deny that First Choice are dropping Shorthaul Flying from LGW Summer'06 and concentrating Longhaul flying?

[30W]

Looking at the S06 commercial plot most definately a false rumour.......not wanting to stop a good rumour though - I'm sure many would enjoy longhaul only.....but sadly not going to happen.

[FormerFlyer]

I refer the honourable gentle(wo)man to my previous reply (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=199986)

cheers ;)
FF

[Localiser Green]

First Choice lived up to their name last summer, with the delay league table announced today.
Sad to see we are back to the days of 1 in 10 UK charter flights on average running over an hour late though. Some airlines really have some work to do.
http://www.flightontime.info
http://www.flightontime.info/charter05.jpg

[Mr @ Spotty M]

They may have come top in the table, but the figure that l would say is more important, is how often you dept within 15 minutes of your departure time.
My Travel came first in that one, with Thomsonfly second and First Choice third.

[Ambulance 'Charlie Alpha']

The one thing that I learnt when doing my BSc was that you can make averages and statistics mean anything you want to, depending on which side your personal bias leans.

If you we're to equalise the flights to the minimum random sample eg, around the 1600 mark, then it would be interesting to see how the positions change. Obviously, this would be hard to do due to the size of each airline and it's operations. But then you have to ask, is it really fair to compare FlyJet's 1166 flights with Thomsonfly's 18224? If you took a random sample of just 1166 Thomsonfly flights at any particular point in time, they may fair much worse or even better than they do in this table. And where are their bases of operation? An airline that mainly works out of Gatwick or Manchester, compared to one that uses much quieter regional hubs could be considered unfair aswell.

I'm not picking, just an observation to promote debate. I personally take these tables all with a pinch of salt. I am trying to be impartial here. I work for TCX, so that's where my loyalty sits. Hopefully we'll do better this summer!

Anyone care to offer a different view on this?

ACA

[goldeneye]

The one thing that I learnt when doing my BSc was that you can make averages and statistics mean anything you want to, depending on which side your personal bias leans.

If you we're to equalise the flights to the minimum random sample eg, around the 1600 mark, then it would be interesting to see how the positions change. Obviously, this would be hard to do due to the size of each airline and it's operations. But then you have to ask, is it really fair to compare FlyJet's 1166 flights with Thomsonfly's 18224? If you took a random sample of just 1166 Thomsonfly flights at any particular point in time, they may fair much worse or even better than they do in this table. And where are their bases of operation? An airline that mainly works out of Gatwick or Manchester, compared to one that uses much quieter regional hubs could be considered unfair aswell.

I'm not picking, just an observation to promote debate. I personally take these tables all with a pinch of salt. I am trying to be impartial here. I work for TCX, so that's where my loyalty sits. Hopefully we'll do better this summer!

Anyone care to offer a different view on this?

ACA

Your spot on with that about stats, Figures can be adjusted to favour any thing, so i always take these things with a pinch of salt. Am with you on TCX too. Any more news on the new A330 or B757-300's coming from Condor.

[Localiser Green]

They may have come top in the table, but the figure that l would say is more important, is how often you dept within 15 minutes of your departure time.
My Travel came first in that one, with Thomsonfly second and First Choice third.
That is true, but then you could arguably rank the carriers by % of flights operating over an hour late as well (like the AUC do in their league table), and if you do that the ranking is the same as above (with the exception that Excel and Astraeus would be reversed).

[rumair999]

And LTE came on top overall

Volar Airlines / 14.33 / 72.35 / 5.46 / 1.02 / 586
Channel Express / 15.73 / 75.47 / 7.23 / 1.26 / 318
Hello / 16.57 / 76.24 / 4.62 / 1.98 / 303
First Choice / 16.90 / 72.71 / 5.87 / 1.16 / 16,516
Thomsonfly / 17.96 / 76.65 / 6.47 / 1.63 / 18,224
Iberworld / 20.22 / 75.68 / 7.72 / 2.70 / 259
Air Europa / 21.65 / 61.54 / 8.44 / 0.74 / 403
BA CitiExpress / 23.29 / 58.22 / 10.45 / 0.86 / 584
MyTravel / 23.84 / 77.71 / 8.57 / 2.94 / 10,996
Air Malta / 24.05 / 65.85 / 10.82 / 2.71 / 776
Pegasus / 24.61 / 67.70 / 8.31 / 2.14 / 421
BH Air / 26.60 / 57.13 / 13.05 / 1.71 / 996
Thomas Cook / 29.24 / 69.83 / 11.90 / 3.64 / 15,607
Futura / 31.47 / 52.57 / 15.33 / 2.75 / 835
bmi / 32.99 / 49.35 / 11.92 / 2.09 / 1,149
Monarch / 33.60 / 58.20 / 13.00 / 3.33 / 7,648
Onur Air / 37.66 / 48.42 / 20.93 / 3.17 / 884
Astraeus / 38.94 / 56.75 / 16.57 / 4.36 / 2,890
Spanair / 39.83 / 41.89 / 20.95 / 3.38 / 444
Excel / 40.23 / 61.62 / 14.38 / 4.45 / 10,881
Eurocypria / 46.65 / 45.72 / 17.51 / 2.54 / 748
European Air Charter / 55.84 / 43.35 / 27.58 / 8.23 / 1,008
Flyjet / 59.94 / 38.85 / 30.36 / 6.60 / 1,166
Air Atlanta Europe / 83.95 / 28.18 / 34.60 / 9.43 / 1,029

[kotakota]

Who cares what time you depart ? Surely arriving on schedule is more important ? It is amazing how people whinge about 20 mins delay , but forget to appreciate arriving on time.

[Rampmole]

Anybody know anymore about this.....inbound fc 767 this morning approx 08.00 landed with some sort of hydraulic problem..........

[Lou Scannon]

Thats much better Rampmole, Hydraulic not Hydrolic!

[smudgethecat]

Anybody know anymore about this.....inbound fc 767 this morning approx 08.00 landed with some sort of hydraulic problem..........Hardly unusual a/c land with problems all the time, what was so special about this one?

[BoeingBoy]

The aircraft had a minor left system leak that the engineers could not easily locate through ground testing. It was eventually traced to the tail area and two parts were replaced fixing the problem.

It left for Dom.Rep some six hours late yesterday evening, arriving safely with no further defects at 0215Z.

I know, 'cos I was flying it!

[Travel Agent]

From 13th April with First Choice. New routes include BRS-SFB, BRS-VRA and BRS-POP. Thats all details I have at the minute.

Edit:
Looks like nothing new from NCL and they are still sharing Thomas Cook flights. Costa Rica been added although it does not say where from. Source: First View (FC's viewdata system)

[Jamesair]

Bristol coming out of it well. I'm sure you'll let us know if there is anything from NCL

[airhumberside]

Unlikely, but is there anything new from HUY?

[Travel Agent]

No, doesn't appear to be

[BFS/BHD]

Any chance those BRS flights will route via BFS?

[airhumberside]

No, doesn't appear to be
Thanks

On another forum, LPL-PMI has been mentioned. Is this new?

[WATABENCH]

Great news for BRS with longhaul announcement - bout time, probably fuel route them thru MAN.
Any new short haul routes from BRS now they going to be using 757 not 321s, also any based EXT FCA unit and has CWL managed to keep FCA?

[NEastMidlands]

Yes i believe the outbound flight is through Manchester which adds an extra three routes there

[WindSheer]

FCA secure at Cardiff for at least the next 3 years. Granted it will all be Canadian, but the pink starfish will remain......

[bycrewlgw]

Anything new for CWL for S07 from FCA ?

[Fandango71]

anything new from LBA?

[NEastMidlands]

Look on the First Choice website its all there!

[bycrewlgw]

Cool cheers for that last time i looked it hadn't updated! :ok:

[BFS/BHD]

How come nothing for BFS? Or am i missing something:confused: .

[firstforfirstchoice]

So are First Choice Airways gaining more B757's from somewhere this summer, if Bristol is to become a B757 base.
As G-OOOG has now gone to Asteraus and G-OOOY is going to Thomas Cook Airlines within the next couple of weeks, both B757's.
Unless they are using the extra B767's on the short shaul routes this summer, which I doubt it, but you never know!

Anyone know??

[richardnei]

Heard a rumour at the start of the year that FCA were looking at doing a BFS-SFB next year with the extra 767's there getting.

So far nothing yet.

[NEastMidlands]

No its cut backs to Manchester and Gatwick that have allowed for the B757's.

[787Heaven]

Reports from the rumour mill over at Jetset say First choice will be adding Australia, Hawaii, South Africa, Costa Rica and San Fransisco by summer 2007. Possibly Guam in 2008.

Also the 787s due to arrive from 2009 will be configured with only 218 seats (less than the 757).

[A330ismylittlebaby]

what would they use to get there then? i wouldnt have thought they would stop halfway in a 767.
on a side not why don't BA fly to alaska or any other european airline:)

[robo283]

Would you want to go to Alaska?! :cool:

[bycrewlgw]

Probably not! But in saying that there is a huge cruise market around Alaska! I hope FCA do open up some of the above L/H routes - give us a bit more choice than BA / VS!!

[airhumberside]

I think the Germans like Alaska. I know Condor have some flights there

[FormerFlyer]

Probably not! But in saying that there is a huge cruise market around Alaska! I hope FCA do open up some of the above L/H routes - give us a bit more choice than BA / VS!!

The majority of the Alaskan cruises start in either Vancouver or Seattle.

cheers ;)
FF

[NEastMidlands]

Reports from the rumour mill over at Jetset say First choice will be adding Australia, Hawaii, South Africa, Costa Rica and San Fransisco by summer 2007. Possibly Guam in 2008.

Also the 787s due to arrive from 2009 will be configured with only 218 seats (less than the 757).

With 218 seats, could mean that they are looking to push them to the maximum ranges

[PGA]

Just a quick question, does the 757 fly any longhaul routes, and if so, from what bases, many thanks in advance!

[NEastMidlands]

First Choice do a bit of swapping around if any of the B767's become tech. Whenever the allocated 767 is broken, they send a B757 to operate the SFB.

On any normal week no longhaul flights would be operated by a B757.

On another note, notice how all SFB flights are on different days, this is for a reason

Tuesday - East Midlands - 1 B767 free all day and night

Thursday - Glasgow - 1 B757 free all day and night

Friday - Manchester - 1 B757 free all day and night

Saturday - Gatwick - 1 B757 free all day and night

[GW76]

NEastMidlands

Isnt that just coincidence. If it was planned- you would think they would have the 767 free for MAN+LGW.

[NEastMidlands]

GW76

No, this would mean no routes to Salvador/Barbados or Puerto Plata/Salvador and since FC are focusing on Long haul.

[firstforfirstchoice]

I think it did an SFB-GLA run a week or so ago, as it was showing as operating via Bangor. Don't know if it was a one-off or not.

Gaz

Hi all,

So if a B757-200 was used on this long haul route, or another B757-200 is used again, what the hell do FCA say to all the pax, especially those who have paid £200 more for their star class premier serivce, because their B757's certainly don't have that.

Any answers or suggestions people??

I certainly would not of liked to have been stuck on the return night flight from Sanford on a FCA B757-200, lots of leg room, I don't think!!
Unless they keep a B757-200 that is configured with less seats and comes with star class and star class premier service!!

Any comments??

Cheers all. :ok: :ok:

[NEastMidlands]

firstforfirstchoice

Oh! the passengers get a short haul aircraft with 28" seat pitch dont worry about that. They do get a refund for SCP, but thats it.

They even put this in the terms and conditions "We can change the aircraft and/or withdraw services" or something like that

I must stress since April it has only happened twice.

I think next year once the two more come, there will be a B767 free on every day, not the same one obviosly.

[johnrizzo2000]

If my FCA aircraft went tech, i would be happy that, at least they have a back-up aircraft! I'd rather 28' pitch etc than a 24 hr delay!

[Guern]

Flew with FCA to Tenerife south and back in th elast week on 757.

Have to say whilst rest of the holiday was great the flight certainly wasn't!

It reminded me why I haven't done charter for years! :mad:

Don't think I would be happy sitting on one of those long haul, had less room to move than on my aurigny ATR flight to LGW!

[NEastMidlands]

After all First Choice is only a hoiliday airline and most people are happy to be getting to where they are going rather than stuck in an airport

[WATABENCH]

Just to add to the confusion, apparently from what i've herd, next summer 1 of the 767s will be sat in BRS during most of the week, not sure if they'll utilise it on short haul during the week, but BRS-SFB is sat flight and POP and VRA are at the moment on alternate sundays, this means that 1 will prob be spare mon-fri in BRS, cant see FCA sitting a 767 doing nothing all week though, it is apparently a based a/c to go with the 2 757s that are replacing the 2 321s there at the mo, so your guess is as good as mine. I have herd a rumour that due to strong sales the POP may come to weekly so maybe they'll change the day it flies that route :confused: .

[airhumberside]

Could BRS-Cancun be a possibility?

[firstforfirstchoice]

Hi all,

Not sure where all of these FCA B767's are going next Summer 2007, as they have another two B767's due soon. So perhaps they will use one B767, or more on short haul routes, but I can't see it been at Bristol, more like at Manchester, London Gatwick, or possibly Birmingham, as they based a B767 at BHX a few years ago, which operated many of the short haul routes, as well as the Orlando flight, along with the other B757-200.

FCA currently have-

G-OOAN
G-OOBK
G-OOBL
G-OOBM

PLus another two B767's that are expected to join later this year, so that makes six B767's unless G-OOAN returns to where ever she came from.

So does anyone know where these extra B767's will go??

I know they are expanding their long haul services next summer 2007, but the expansion does not cater for two extra B767-300's.

So perhaps one of these will not be configured for their star class service, perhaps it will operate on popular short haul routes, from one of there bigger hubs.

Any comments/suggestions anyone??

Cheers, Nick. :ok: :ok:

[NEastMidlands]

The aircraft will not be based at BRS but at LGW or MAN and will position in for the first flight and position out after and operate some more flights from either EMA, GLA, MAN or LGW similar to the way EMA ops this year.

The expansion does cover 6 aircraft, with one each day not doing a flight, remember flights to Kenya, Sri Lanka and Maldives are very time consuming due to the time of the flight.

G-OOAN is stopping

[the_fish@blueyonder.]

Just back from Bulgaria with First Choice, flew from GLA-BOJ on B757-200 G-OOBF both ways.

The flight on the way out was very good, one of the best, the pre-booked seats were definatly worth the extra because there were so many families getting split up and sat a few rows apart.

In flight entertainment was pretty good too on both legs, which I didn't expect. The meal was superb aswell, although on the return flight the cottage pie was a bit dry.

One thing that I found annoying though was that the crew would often leave the TV screens blank for a long time between programmes instead of displaying the inflight map/info screens. One the return leg this morning they didn't show the map or the info screens once, but had about 10/15 minutes of black screen after the movie.

The pilot updated us quite regularly on the outbound flight, but on the inbound, not surprisingly due to it being early morning, they didn't speak much at all.

Overall, a great airline and a great holiday company too,will use them again.

[Pilot Pete]

It seems First Choice are expanding their portfolio again. Citywire news article (http://www.citywire.co.uk/News/NewsArticle.aspx?VersionID=83532&re=210&ea=30049)

New First Choice acquisition targets 55-75 market in US

First Choice Holidays is continuing its policy of expanding in specialist niche tourist markets with the £27 million acquisition of a US outfit concentrating on escorted holidays for those aged between 55 and 75.

It is taking over Los Angeles-based YMT Vacations founded 39 years ago by Frank J. and Lenore Dupuis to offer specialist US escorted tours for 'boomers to seniors', currently the fastest growing age sector of the North American market.

YMT offers 15 different US itineraries and expects 25,000 customers this year which it will take to places like Alaska, Hawaii, the Canadian Rockies, California and the West, the National Parks, New England and the Annual Rose Parade.

First Choice (FCD) chief executive Peter Long says YMT fits his acquisition criteria as it in a growth segment with a clearly defined, efficient and sustainable business model. The shares fell 1p to 226.75p giving the group a stock market valuation of £1.2 billion.

Both student travel and escorted tours were niches identified by First Choice, but until the YMT deal it seemed to be placing more emphasis on impoverished students and backpackers.

Long says that while YMT's customers like flexible travel requirements, they also prefer the security and sense of community offered by escorted group travel.

'It has an excellent reputation for customer service and is a market leader in this segment of the market' he said.

YMT founder and chairman Frank Dupuis said that being part of a group like First Choice was exciting in terms of growth potential, new areas of activity and a support network for his management team.



PP

[737James]

I have recently travelled to Cancun Mexico with FCA from EMA and must say wasvery impressed with the service recieved on board and the new star class service.
The seats were comfortable with plenty of legroom and good choice of tv on personal seatback tv with a sky map service showing current position and route just a word of warning this service doesnt and wont work on BL aircraft.
Just a couple of questions now I hope somebody can help with
How long a stopver do the crew normally get in Mexico with it being a 10 hour+ sector ?
For the EMA flight where are the crew from ? Are they based or MAN,LGW crew.
Also I noticed that 3 members of flightdeck crew are taken due to duty hours where does the spare member sit in the jump seat or in the premium cabin and was it just coincedence that both my flights had snr F/O or is that the normal.

[lba2006]

I recently flew from MAN to PMV, talked to one of the cabin crew and i was informed they has 2 nights in a hotel then they flew to Mexico to fly another one back...........maybe they do something similar!!
We had a scottish crew looking after us for the return journey!.
Hope this helps

[bycrewlgw]

you can also do a bullet to CUN with just under about 20 hours

[aileron]

737 James,

We do a lot of different stops in Mexico. If its a short stay then we take 3 pilots due to Flight Time Limitations....a 'bullet'. I think the EMA-CUN flight is usually MAN or BHX crew but can be from anywhere.

I dont think we have any F/O's on the 767 who arent SFO's. Most of the 767's have an adjustable 3rd crew seat in the cockpit. Sometimes we might use a seat in Premier but I would suggest this isnt the norm.

Glad you like the new 767 layout! :ok:

Cheers,
MAN based 767 Capt.

[737James]

Many Thanks for the reply Aileron thats how i thought the crewing worked I know they were Man on return as all had strong northern accents.
what is the reason why the Sky map service doesnt work on BL aircraft ? I know the F/O on the return said on all other aircraft if you forget to switch it on before departure you cant switch it on once airborne.
I was very impressed with both sets of flightcrew who gave the usual PA's but also gave plenty of information on routing and tech info like fuel uplift,weight at take off and special thanks to capt James Allison who on our return kept us upto to date with all the cities we flew over on East coast of Usa and a nice bank either side on departure from Cun with nice views of resort.

[30W]

737James,

The EMA-CUN sector is operated by LGW Flt Deck, and cabin crew. They are scheduled to operate CUN-LGW the next day, so as the crew are unacclimatised to local time, the rotation operates with 3 pilots. (Flight Time Limitations allow longer duty with 3 rather than 2 flight deck when un-acclimatised).

The CUN-EMA sector is flown by an all MAN crew, who have operated MAN-CUN on the Sunday, again single night in CUN and then operate CUN-EMA. This rotation operates again with 3 pilots for the same reason as the above rotation.

The SFB and PUJ departures are crewed by BHX pilots, and either BHX or EMA cabin crew.

30W

[lba2006]

So who flies the PMV-MAN sector??

[30W]

PMV-MAN is operated by LGW crew who operate LGW-PMV on the Wednesday and then operate the PMV-MAN on the Thursday (during summer season of 06 anyhow....)

[aileron]

737James,

Its a small world......the chap who flew you home (Capt J Allinson) is me! Glad you enjoyed the flight anyway! :ok: It gets a little disheartening when all we hear is complaints. :ugh:

I dont know why BL's skymap doesnt work. The next time I fly it I will have a chat with the Engineers.

Happy flying.

PS I havent had a chance to use the IFE yet. Ive heard its pretty good. :E

[737James]

Well yes that is a small world isnt it but was a good flight with quicker routing back and nice smooth landing. One of the hosties on the return to Ema was singing your praises saying how nice you were cant remember her name but had blonde hair.
I presume a different crew position the aicraft down from Man to Ema if its a LGW crew doing the flight.
I was talking to some BY crew at my hotel were saying how bad the legroom was compared to FCA, I would be interested to know why the map doesnt work on BL when you get a chance I would imagine something to to do with specs on refit, you should try the IFE next time you get the chance.
Well back off to work with Baby tommorow just hoping for nice easy day to get back into the groove we complain about 5 sector days but sounds good compared to your bullet runs.

[Localiser Green]

I think they are having a few problems with the SkyMap system. Friend of mine went LGW-MLE on G-OOBK in June and said the map never worked.

The SkyMap didn't work properly on 'BM either at the weekend returning HUX-MAN (nor did it on outbound MAN-HUX two weeks before, also 'BM).

Once the flight got going (hour or two in) the Map did start to report the correct position but I think the computer was confused as to where HUX was as it showed our routing MAN-HUX and HUX-MAN as a red line from MAN to the "middle" of the world (zero degrees north, zero degrees west)!

Local time for HUX was either blank or showed 56460:00 or something similarly crazy throughout the flight, and the estimated time to destination and ETA fluctuated backwards and forwards by about an hour throughout both flights (even though both flights took almost exactly the time the pilots said they would +/- a few mins).

I thought these systems just took data straight from the FMC?

Great service and product though in the premium cabin, couldn't fault it. Excellent crews both ways too, flight deck and cabin. We had 4 flight deck crew on the way home for some reason (2 Capts / 2 SFO's), one of whom sat in premium all the way back, never went in flightdeck.

[737James]

On my return on BM aircraft it said exactly the same as localiser green hassaid the first map i think was showing as it changed from night to dark, the 2nd was a map with range of around 300nm i would imagine,3rd only appared over land more exact and localised i noticed this showed all airports including us air bases and the last green just had had weird reference as described and time of departure point.
Got friends returning on AN well thats what was in when i taxied past this morning at EMA i will ask them if that worked or had same bug.

[NEastMidlands]

G-OOAN skymap is on the verge of going as well. Just returned from MLE on it and it was alright up to about Dubai and then the map completely dissapeared for the rest of the flight and the time to dest stopped at 8:20, clearly there is something affecting the entire fleet with the skymap.

[air2bob]

i've asked this question before but does anyone know how the brs longhaul routes will work? some of the flights are fortnightly so how will it work is it operated by brs crew's or will other bases be involved? if it is to be brs they will have to have a massive recruitment drive to allow for crew's being downroute on layovers as not enough crew based there at present to operate a 767 aswell as 2 shorthaul a/c.:ok:

[WATABENCH]

At the moment the BRS longhaul is going to be operated by MAN crew, the BRS crew are feeling rather upset shall we say, crew managers in BRS say they're trying their best to get it changed, it must be rather disheartening for them as they step on to their BRS-PMI and a MAN crew are going on to do BRS-SFB! The BRS programme is selling very very well though and looks certain for the commencement date for the SFB and possibly the POP to come back to febuary, not so sure on the Cuba route, apparently its selling but not as well as the other 2, but fair play to FC for giving it a go, maybe CUN would of been a safer option for them, but FCA like to test the market and usually come out laughing so we'll see i guess.

[air2bob]

thanks for reply thought it was too good to be true nice small regional base to operate longhaul i'd be gutted also if i was brs crew! i was looking to put in for transfer to brs but think i'll wait until exeter opens as better for me as want to return home! wont hold my breath though but i really have had enough of creepy crawley!:ok:

[fly20]

heard confirmed FCA are basing 2 a/c at EXT this winter - any ideas how many rotations a week are planned and if there are any new desintinations?

[air2bob]

fly20

REALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D my god i must put in writing that i wish to transfer if and when a proper base opens!! thanks for that info. any idea when that may happen as i know cwl and brs crew's did most of the flying from ext by night stopping or w patterns ;)

[fly20]

i would imagine it will still be operated by BRS/CWL crews, as FCA do not base an a/c at EXT in the summer (at the moment...). If you work for First Choice surely you shud have more information than me anyway;) Generally the crews don't night stop, they get a bus down before the flight, then fly it, then go home, but most of the flights will prob depart around 6-8am so will be many early starts!

[air2bob]

If you work for First Choice surely you shud have more information than me anyway;)

you are joking we are always the last to hear anything!!!!! i heard on the bus going from car park that brs was starting longhaul from an ezy pilot!!!:ok:

[WATABENCH]

Ehrm, 2 a/c at EXT in winter! No offence but your haveing a laugh, no way that will happen, they dont even have 2 in BRS during winter, where the hell did that come from?
Great news if it's true, but really cant see it happening

[WindSheer]

I heard that its definately 2 with a possibility of longhaul starting in Nov'!!

Exeter is booming........

[GW76]

I heard that its definately 2 with a possibility of longhaul starting in Nov'!!
Exeter is booming........
That would be a huge sudden unexpected boost to EXT services and I frankly cant see it happening. Unless of course someone has a reliable source other than " I heard..."

[fly20]

can confirm that it is defintely 2, but the long haul is a no no - i think FCA would have been advertising LH holidays before now if the flights starting in 4 months!

[NEastMidlands]

Fact: Longhaul wont "start" in EXT in November. Why? - There are no planes to serve it, all are busy at MAN and LGW and EMA from JAN and BRS from May.

Possibility: They could start selling long haul flights from EXT from November, which would see flights starting in November 2007.

[GW76]

Looking at the FCA EXT W06 schedule- if there isnt any third part operators- there are enough flights to utilise two aircraft. Usually in the winter there are decent flight times, and for example there are two flights on a Monday with flying times of 4 hrs or more.

[WindSheer]

As an FCA insider, I can confirm my longhaul talk was pure sarcasm!!! Along with whoever is going with the 2 aircraft thing!!
1 A320 this winter the same as usual!! Unless a 757 is doing a w pattern once a week (thats one extra flight on a different a/c), I would hardly call that '2 aircraft based at EXT!!

Cheers:p

[airhumberside]

Any chance of FCA making their EXT base an all year one?

[30W]

I think TFS counts as long haul from EXT :rolleyes:

[MerchantVenturer]

Has Exeter actually been a FCA base in recent winters?

I understood the CWL A320 with CWL (and possibly BRS crew at times) operated the flights.

As for NEastMidlands's comment that FCA long haul won't start from BRS until next May, I am sure I saw winter 06/07 long haul flights from BRS advertised in the First Choice shop window at Broad Walk Shopping Centre, Knowle, this week.

I thought some were commencing in February.

[WindSheer]

Exeter has never been an official 'base'.
Other FCA bases just club together supplying crew, engineers and ground staff to cover the winter.

Its just one of those bases that we 'get by' at.

:eek:

[GW76]

I am sure I saw winter 06/07 long haul flights from BRS advertised in the First Choice shop window at Broad Walk Shopping Centre, Knowle, this week.
I thought some were commencing in February.
A simple check of First Choice Airlines timetable on their website will confirm long haul flights commencing from BRS in February.

[NEastMidlands]

A simple check of First Choice Airlines timetable on their website will confirm long haul flights commencing from BRS in February.

If the new plane has arrived.

[WATABENCH]

FCA new routes(announced ages ago now) from BRS this winter 06/07 BJL/SSH starting in nov, SFB/POP starting in feb, with Varadero and Agadir starting in May.
BRS - winter, 1 757 based plus 767 visiting / summer 2 757 plus visting 767 and 320
EXT - winter, 1 320 based / summer 0 ac based just visits from CWL/MAN a/c
CWL - winter, 0 based a/c just visits from EXT a/c / summer 1 based 320 skyservice.
Jobs a gooden!

[30W]

If the new plane has arrived.

It's in the hangar in AUH being reconfigured into FCA spec as we speak.

[GW76]

30W

Suppose going by previous reconfig delays, that means nothing

[NEastMidlands]

G-DBLA i think it is. Delays last year were around 2 months to BK and AN when they were being refitted. If not a B757 will have to operate again.

[Theplanemanuk]

No ive heard the at cwl there will be 2 aircraft based (2xa320) plus one visiting long haul from Man in summer 07.:confused:

[NEastMidlands]

There are no cardiff long haul routes on sale for next summer.

[Theplanemanuk]

they are being realeased in version 3 of 07 catlouge due out in winter so look out also check their website but i got from internal contacts.

[NEastMidlands]

Its a bit late to start selling them though. The first edition was released in April

[World of Tweed]

Guys,

Any truth to the rumour that FCA have decided not to persue the 787 any further at this juncture?

Apparently there are slots for the 787 up for grabs it just hasn't been annouced yet.

[NEastMidlands]

The deal was that they get the B767's with subsidies if they go ahead with the B787 purchase. So they are looking at a complete failure of there star class if they did cancel because they couldnt keep up 33" without those subsidies.

So unless they were 100% silly and didnt care about customers or profit they they wouldnt cancel any orders, and by then the B767's will be verging on 20 years old so they will need a replacement anyway.

[WindSheer]

2 A320's and a 767 visiting at Cardiff.....hmmm...a bit speculative for me!!

Incidentally, the CWL unit is not 'w' ing through EXT summer '07.

[bycrewlgw]

First choice long haul from CWL no! lol sounds a bit like your deffo CO service to EWR planeman! lol FCA have just launced l/h from BRS not going to launch from CWL too!

[WindSheer]

Dont hold your breath on that one.......it would make perfect commercial sense..

Who knows....

[WATABENCH]

Is this planeman geezer taking the mick? I notice some hopeful postings by him on other threads, CWL 2a/c and long haul? 'our survey says.....' :}

[BYCREWBOY]

And you know best do you?

[WindSheer]

Going on your user name, I would say he knows a fair bit more than you!!:8

[WATABENCH]

Simple answer for you BY is where FCA in Wales and the West is concerned, Yes!

[WindSheer]

Watabench....Have you signed that B787 purchase order yet....:ok:

[World of Tweed]

NEAM,

Its been a while I know but wanted to ask you something.

You say below about subsidies with the 767's. I heard, from a preivous MD that the only 767s FCA could get hold of at the time were low-weight cabin floor versions. Hence the restrictions on the seat numbers and the sudden enthusiasm for a "star" class product. I'm sure they may be receiving something from boeing for their "intent" for the 787 but as far as I've read it is still only a legal "intent" and not an "order"..... thats a big difference in aviation leasing wouldn't you agree?

Check out the Boeing Orders link.....

http://active.boeing.com/commercial/orders/index.cfm

The deal was that they get the B767's with subsidies if they go ahead with the B787 purchase. So they are looking at a complete failure of there star class if they did cancel because they couldnt keep up 33" without those subsidies.

[WindSheer]

Hmm, The 767's had a complete interior refurbish. Surely the flooring issue could have been sorted, if indeed it was an issue....

[WATABENCH]

Windsheer, Nearly mate, just dotting the I's and crossing the T's, then you can rest assured that the first FCA 787 will be winging its way direct from Seattle to be based at CWL operating direct to Hawaii on the Monday! :}

[NEastMidlands]

Yes they did have a complete refit, so you would have thought the flooring could have been solved, and with them keeping AN they could have easily gone for the 30" seat pitch if they wanted to. Maybe it was the time frame, maybe they just wanted to be a market leader. Also i am not sure what versions DBLA and PJLO or whatever they are reg are, they may not be low weight

Also they signed an Intent but they have also selected the engine type, does this sound like the actions of a company not intending to get an aircraft?

[World of Tweed]

Don't want to labour the point but a "refurbishment" and a Floor Strengthening MOD are worlds apart. In fact I'd bet good money that it was prohibativly expensive.

I'm sure they did go in for a deep check before reaching you guys but I can't see ANY airline attempting a modification that large and expensive then not utilising it by installing all premium Econ. seating...

Market leaders - probably ... My hats off to you guys ....I wish my company would do the same....but I suspect your fortune was forced by the weight issue i.e. by chance not by Choice. But hey it works!

As for the 787...engine choice...great but Boeings been very quiet about it. Particularly as I couldn't see FCA on that list? If there is one thing I learned about Aircraft Acquisitions - its all Cloak and Dagger.....

....often more Dagger than Cloak.

[Tigger4Me]

As a consumer I'd like to add my two cents worth. We had no intention of taking a holiday this year but got sucked in by an email from FCH boasting of the new Star Premier Class. As I cannot bear to cross The Pond without a reasonable amount of leg room, we decided to give it a try and chose Aruba as our destination.

Should any members of crew wish to identify themselves with the following comments our dates were 12 June LGW/AUA and 26 June return.
In a nutshell the new layout, decor and facilities in Star Class Premier were absolutely superb. The cabin crew whilst attentive were not overly so and I just wish there was a beauty therapist like Lindsay on every flight I took. Both the choice and quality of the meals served were superb (seriously) and these were complemented with an excellent drinks service.

Crew PAs from the cabin and flight deck were spot on, in particular on the sleeper service return where they were kept to a minimum. The IFE was very comprehensive and worked perfectly. In particular I found the video on demand service a brilliant way to avoid the usual problems about trying to watch a video whilst balancing a tray of food. During meal service I switched from viddy to Skymap and then picked up the video from where it was left once the trays had been removed.

You'll have noticed the comment, "balancing a tray of food." Herein lies the only problem though I haven't a clue what the answer is. The meal tray was far too large for the table and despite warnings from the CC, 5 people on the outbound dumped their lunch onto their feet when the tray tipped over the back of the table. The temporary answer is to rearrange the tray setting with heavier items nearest you and the lighter ones to the back of the tray.

The only problem overall with the holiday related to the poor services of the FCH reps. On the outbound they were not at AUA to meet us as they claimed they did not know that we were landing 35 minutes ahead of schedule. On the return they messed up totally with handling a 6 hour delay by advising us of incorrect hotel pick-up times and not advising some pax at all. A delay caused by some idiot passenger on the outbound putting something they shouldn't down the loo causing the plane to turn back when already 90 minutes out over the Atlantic. Thanks!

The only losers in all of this will be BA. Thanks to the 6 hour delay we missed our connection at LGW to Malaga. BA refused to reschedule us and instead demanded £338 + taxes each for new tickets. Well thanks BA but my custom that day and from now on goes to Monarch.

I will certainly consider FCA Star Premier Class again and am now looking forward to my next email telling me that the 787 has been rolled out.

[GLGNDB]

FCA 787 order is listed under Jan 2005 on the Boeing website. The link above takes you to the 2006 order page.

[FCA787]

With FCA now aiming to operate more longhaul flights from regional basis, would it not be worth considering flights from DUB?

MON and TOM are now starting flights to SFB & CUN from DUB surely we'll be missing out on a great opportunity?

Does anyone know if longhaul from DUB could be a possibility in the next couple of years?

[freddiebroders]

I have just returned from a great two week holiday in Varadero with First Choice. I have to say the new star class cabin is superb, the legroom couldn't be better, the AVOD IFE excellent and the seats themselves very comfortable, but were quite hard to sleep in on the way back. The food was decent and some very good and not so good cabin crew. On the way back we had a Delta F/O who is on loan to FCA and he was brilliant, his announcements really made all the passengers chuckle and he kept us entertained; if only a few more pilots could be like him ;-)

One of the best flights I have had, the only thing was thst the cabin crew were not very consistent in the service they provided.....

When are the new 767s due to be delivered and also why does the next one have such a strange reg, you would have thought it be G-OOBN but it is G-DBLA.

One thing I don't understand is how the crewing works. If FCA (or any airline for that matter) have a L/H flight to a particular destination, only once per week (I know Varadero doesn't count as there is a LGW and MAN flight so the crew stay in VRA for 3/4 nights) what does the airline do, do they keep the crew in hotels for a week (surely very expensive) or carry two crews (in the crew rest area or in the passenger cabin) which would be surely very tiring for the crew? How long are crew allowed to work for a particular day?

Sorry for my ignorance but what is a bullet flight and is a rotation there and back or just one-way?

Thanks ;) :ok:

[Tigger4Me]

On arrival in Aruba our crew made their way to Margarita I believe and operated the return from there. Our crew from Aruba back to the UK had operated an outbound to Antigua then crossed on an internal to Aruba to operate the inbound to LGW.

Apologies to FCA if I've got the islands wrong but the principle is correct.

[tea_please]

Just for the record - the crew from Aruba back to LGW fly out to Margarita from Manchester and do some lovely positioning across to operate the flight back. Crew sometimes spend up to a week in resorts (sometimes, not all the time!) depending on the operational requirements - every other week, a Manchester crew spend a week in the Bahamas operating the flight out on the Sunday and the flight back the following Sunday, however on the odd weeks the crew get one night in the bahamas and position elsewhere to operate home (poss. Antigua). Also in response, most of the cabin crew are great, BUT, unfortunately some are less so... I'm sure it's the same in any job...

[Wycombe]

I think the FCA crews do the same positioning between Cancun and Puerto Vallarta aswell. They don't get as long in these holiday hotspots as you might think :ok:

[NEastMidlands]

G-DBLAand G-PJLO both contain the initials of key figures in First Choice, hence personal registration plates.

They are due in Feb and April respectively.

[freddiebroders]

Do personal registration plates cost more, such as those two and the Virgin ones which are all rather clever?:confused:

[NEastMidlands]

I doubt it, it will cost the same to register a plane, its not like they are changing it from BN to LA. Its coming from Eva Air anyway.

[Mr Angry from Purley]

freddie

A bullet is airline guk speak for a 24hr layover. Out today, back on tommorrows service, which normally departs late afternoon / evening UK time. A rotation is (in my view) is there and back so LGW-Aruba-LGW, a sector would be LGW-Aruba.
Quiet often the Charter Companies don't go to the same place every day and this can be complicated as sometimes passengers are going on cruises when they get to destination so the schedules are driven by Boat schedules. This often results in all the long haul aircraft going to the same place on the same day, not good for crew patterns. A common schedule would possibly see an aircraft go to Orlando on Friday and Saturday (so crews would operate a "bullet") then on Sunday to Barbados, Monday Jamaica, Tuesday Orlando, then Wednsday Dominican Republic, Thursday Cancun. The decison then is to leave the crews in place for a week, or shuttle them around. If shuttling this is is down by two methods, scheduled airlines so crews could fly example from Orlando to Jamaica normally via Maimi which takes time and is fairly tiring, or sometimes then airlines hire small commuter aircraft to pick the crews up as soon as they arrive, Dom Rep to Jamiaca is a common schedule. This is more expensive but a lot easier, particularly when there are no scheduled flights.

It costs a lot to leave 11 crew in Barbados for a week, but sometimes this is the best and cheapest option it really depends on the schedules.

In terms of Crew hours, longer flights such as Cancun will often see the need for an extra Pilot but thats about it. Maximum hours around 14 + discretion of the Captain. If the crew are going to Barbados for a week, up to 3 hrs can be used, if going to Dom Rep for 24 hrs, between 0-2 hrs!.
Sometimes a crew will operate two sectors such as LGW-BGI-ANU but only within the limits set by the CAA. Rest assured they then get off and take rest (although they may then position somewhere as above)

Lastly rest assured that for every week in Barbados, the most common trips are bullets normally returning into a Airport not the crew base, followed by a coach home. Its not all that glamorous!:\

[NEastMidlands]

Although the Manchester - Male flights do mean the cabin crew stay 7 nights in the Maldives and fly back to Gatwick.

[Mr @ Spotty M]

freddiebroders
To my knowledge they do charge extra for an out of sequence registration.
I will try to find out what the two cost.:ok:

[Pilot Pete]

freddiebroders
To my knowledge they do charge extra for an out of sequence registration.

Does make your airline management look frivilous when they 'personalise' the aircraft registrations, then complain about the trading position and look to lay crews off in order to save money, only to change the airline name with a rebranding/ repainting and keep the now 'old' registrations with the old company name on them!.:rolleyes: take jmc/ Thomas Cook for example.:D

PP

[NEastMidlands]

all of MyTravels registrations are not in sequence so this either cost them a lot of money or there was no other charge

[freddiebroders]

Just out of interest, why did we have a Delta pilot on our flight on Thursday, are FCA low on pilots for the summer? Was it a one off or is he (and others?) there for the summer period?

[Mr @ Spotty M]

The extra cost is £160 on top of the normal £120 that you would pay for a normal reg.
This is peanuts, to the total cost of getting the aircraft in the first place.

[30W]

Although the Manchester - Male flights do mean the cabin crew stay 7 nights in the Maldives and fly back to Gatwick.

I'm afraid not! MAN crew dep UK Tues evening arriving MLE Weds lunchtime. They then operate the MLE-LGW on Mon morning. My maths makes that 5 nights. In addition, it's not just the cabin crew, the WHOLE crew operate these rotations, as with all FCA longhaul. There are no trips where the cabin crew and flt deck split into different rotation patterns.

30W

[jmc757]

all of MyTravels registrations are not in sequence so this either cost them a lot of money or there was no other charge

I believe that Airtours/MyTravel Airways registrations contain the initials of employees of the company, so although look random they mean something.

[stansdead]

pilot pete

Or on the same vein of "botched" rebrandings, how about Britannia to Thomsonfly......:)

Need I say more?:confused: :) :confused:

[NEastMidlands]

I was talking to some members of the cabin crew a couple of weeks ago and they seemed to think G-OOAN was on its way out next year, either because of the configuration issues or cost

Does anyone know if thats the case or not?

[devon_guy]

I've tried to book a holiday to Madeira flying from BRS on the Premium service. Apparently according to the helpful lady on the phone, FCA are withdrawing their short haul premium cabin from virtually all services. She was surprised herself saying it was always very popular, so what have they withdrawn it for, does anyone know?

[NEastMidlands]

Bristol is going to be a B757 base which has never had premium on it. I think all of the A321's will be going very soon which are the only 4 planes with it on.

I am suprised FCA havent implmented this on all short haul flights because as i can see its very popular and sells out on virtually all flights, giving people that little extra legroom they want.

[devon_guy]

How mad, what is the logic in moving the A321's from brs?? I agree with what you say, surely they could fit a premium cabin quite easily to the 757's??

[NEastMidlands]

devon_guy

Could be something to do with the fact all A321's are returning to the lessor and both the B757 and B767 will make apperances at BRS.

[devon_guy]

Well that's fine, but have they not thought about putting premium cabins in the 757's??

[devon_guy]

I spoke to First Choice and the lady went through to flight ops and apparently the reason that the premium service is going from BRS is that it is under performing. I find this very hard to believe, can anyone confirm if this is true or not?

[NEastMidlands]

Well that's fine, but have they not thought about putting premium cabins in the 757's??

I am sure they have but obvously for one reason or another decided not to

[WindSheer]

I spoke to First Choice and the lady went through to flight ops and apparently the reason that the premium service is going from BRS is that it is under performing. I find this very hard to believe, can anyone confirm if this is true or not?

I work for FCA with the prem service at Brs week after week!!
It is not under performing, and is quite a good little money spinner.

Prem' class has only ever been available on AMM/FCA's A321 & 767 a/c. Dont ask me why it was never put onto the 75 and 320 fleets, that is one for someone else.
The A321 is being removed from BRS due to the need for the 757 to take its place and open up a few more routes, and improve a few logistical issues with the 321 and Bristols runway. This will also solve several rostering headaches by having crews at BRS qualified to fly the 767 when it arrives.

So, to cut it short the prem is leaving because the 321 is leaving. Thats about it really!! Wherever these a/c end up (Man or Lgw), then prem will become available.

:)

[30W]

All 321's are not to go despite a previous poster suggesting so.

There will be a loss of 1 A321 from the fleet for next summer. Of the 2 BRS summer based A321's one will return to the lessor as it's lease runs out this winter, and the other will be located at LGW next summer.

Why 757's for BRS? BRS's runway length combined with the poor 'performance' of the Airbus make route structuring difficult. I think this last weekend again saw an enroute stop for fuel on one service because the aircraft wasn't capable of making it direct. The same route on the 757 wouldn't have been an issue - it's performance is just far superior. The Airbus has some good qualities, better fuel economy than the 757 for one, but if it can't cope with the routes direct it's a waste of time.

FCA want to operate Egypt routes from BRS, can't even contemplate it with a full A321.

[onwardsandupwards]

Please could someone provide a list (not extensive) of which First Choice aircraft are based at which UK airports.

Thanks in advance

[CaptYanknBank]

Hi out there,

Anyone know how many B757's First Choice base at MAN?

What do they fly out of LBA?

Cheers,

CY&B

[lba2006]

A320 out of LBA.

[airhumberside]

Isn't it a LTN based A320 that does LBA-FAO?

[BAforever]

Please could someone provide a list (not extensive) of which First Choice aircraft are based at which UK airports.

Thanks in advance


A320 AT Cardiff:ok:

[crackling jet]

Please could someone provide a list (not extensive) of which First Choice aircraft are based at which UK airports.

Thanks in advance

BRISTOL :- Winter 1 x 757, 1 x A321, 1 x part week 767 ( we are led to believe at this time.

[WATABENCH]

BRS is 1x757 with visiting 767 from feb, the 321 remains for a few weeks in to winter as crew are on swap over from airbus to boeing, in summer it will be 2x757 plus visiting 767, EXT is 1x320 winter only, CWL is 1x320 summer only, BHX is 1x757 winter 2x757 summer, EMA is 1x321 plus visiting 767 year round, STN is 1x321 year round, LTN is 1x320 year round, BFS is 1x320 year round, DUB is 1x757 year round, LGW/MAN have 320/757/767 operating winter and summer with both the ex BRS 321's being added to the equation from Dec onwards... hope this helps!

[rm2242]

Hello all.

As far as I can tell, the following changes are being made to the Gatwick operation for 2007;

Discontinued: Croatia, Malta
New: Samana, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka

Can somebody please confirm? Any other changes? Is, as per rumour, Holguin (or Varadero?) being discontinued in favour of Bristol?

Also on a side question, FCA stop off somewhere (can't remember where) on the way back from Dubrovnik. Is this for performance constraint issues in DBV or something?

Regards,
Rob

[30W]

Can somebody please confirm? Any other changes? Is, as per rumour, Holguin (or Varadero?) being discontinued in favour of Bristol?

Also on a side question, FCA stop off somewhere (can't remember where) on the way back from Dubrovnik. Is this for performance constraint issues in DBV or something?

I doubt if Cuba IS dropped it's because of BRS. BRS services are on the regional 767 (BRS/EMA/GLA), so don't effect LGW's 767 long haul services.
As new routes are on offer, perhaps replaced by one of those? Sri Lanka is only new to LGW, as it's currently already operated from MAN.

DBV is scheduled to operate direct LGW on an A320.

30W

[Flightrider]

The Sunday LGW-DBV currently operates back via Split. It's for commercial reasons (operated via Zadar last year) to meet a requirement for Sunsail's sailing flotillas - that tour op is part of the FC group.

[rm2242]

Appreciate that. Thanks.

Can't remember where I picked up that info about the Cuba service swap. I think it was for reasons other than fleet utilisation though. Not sure.

Not surprised that DBV is operated. Croatia seems to be an emerging market. What can I say, my facts are a bit off obviously. I also doubted the Malta service ending, so still, if anyone can confirm or otherwise.

Regards,
Rob

Edit: I actually think the Malta service is operting. I think my info came from the FCA website a few months back, before schedules where confirmed. Sorry about that.

[Thomas_Cook_757-300]

Hi,

Croatia has been dropped by First Choice for Summer 2007 from all departure points. Colombo is suspended ex MAN from Oct.

Thomas_Cook_757-300

[rm2242]

Ah thank you! Anyone know why?

[Codman]

Well perhaps because Croatia hasn't sold well and Sri Lanka could descend into a civil war before long? That plausible enough for you?

[Thomas_Cook_757-300]

Hi,
Not sure why Croatia wouldn't sell well, it's an up-and-coming destination, a lot of repeat visitors and most operators are expanding in this region. Again, Sri Lanka is increasingly popular, Virgin, Manos/MyTravel, Thomas Cook, Thomson, Cosmos etc are all doing it, First Choice the only one with a direct flight, not sure why they would pull it from MAN. If it had anything to do with Civil War why would they fly to CMB from LGW! :ugh:
Thomas_Cook_757-300

[NEastMidlands]

maybe Sri Lanka is more an operational reason, e.g they want Maldives as a weekly service alongside Kenya from both Manchester and Gatwick, so you cant operate the Sri Lanka flight from MAN due to no a/c

Either that or they have interest from a third party but i doubt that.

[rm2242]

Well perhaps because Croatia hasn't sold well and Sri Lanka could descend into a civil war before long? That plausible enough for you?

Well of course it is plausable, thank you.

My questioning was I suppose due to the fact that Croatia is deemed an emerging market. Seemed strange to pull it. But Im sure they know what they're up to.

Sri Lanka's war suggestion is something I wondered as well. Again though, the LGW still operating argument suggests that isn't so. I guess their 763's are getting rather stretched now though. Thats maybe why...

Regards,
Rob

[Smile!!!]

There 767 fleet is stretched, especiasialy with the new routes from BRS

[NEastMidlands]

I guess their 763's are getting rather stretched now though. Thats maybe why...
Regards,
Rob

Two more due in January and March 2007.

[NEastMidlands]

There 767 fleet is stretched, especiasialy with the new routes from BRS

With 6 planes operating, currently the provisional schedule only uses 4 or 5 not 6. I cant see any more routes been added now as its getting late on.

[Mr @ Spotty M]

Would one of the two due next year, be one that arrives next week?:ok:

[NEastMidlands]

Would one of the two due next year, be one that arrives next week?:ok:

Ah but will it. I remember the very same being said last year, its going to be here this week, no this week, 4 weeks of B757's latter and BK arrives operates a couple of flights and breaks down.

i hope G-DBLA isnt going to be the same.