View Full Version : England's World Cup Plane?
JetMouse
18th May 2002, 08:10
I was wondering, having seen the England team jet off to Dubai in what looked like a BA 777 - do the England team has the use of this plane for the whole tournament?
If so are the pilots and cabin crew basically on world cup duty?
Carnage Matey!
18th May 2002, 12:39
Don't know if they have the aircraft for the whole tournament but it seems unlikely. I suspect the aircraft may be subbed onto a return NRT service or a World Cup charter during the two weeks between England arriving in Japan and being knocked out! The cabin crew are being selected from those on standby at home whilst the flight crew will probably be the traditional collection of management pilots off on a jolly. They will have understandably pressing reasons for travelling all over Japan/S. Korea to check on airport suitability, taxy routings, etc. etc. in advance of the teams arrival, just like they did when they took HRH to Oz! Nice work if you can get it, which you can't.
OzExpat
18th May 2002, 12:47
When saw this thread, I thought it might refer to "England's World Cup Plan, but I see it's only a plane... :D
Captain Stable
18th May 2002, 13:46
What's all this about them having a plane? What do they want a plane for? Do they also have saws, hammers and drills?
A plane is a carpenter's tool.
A machine that flies is an aircraft, an aeroplane or, in the very worst case, an airplane.
eyeinthesky
19th May 2002, 11:35
The BA 777 arrived back from Korea (empty?) at about 0700 this morning. I should know, I controlled it!
If you were the pilot: thanks for the banter, it made getting up that early worthwhile!! Keep that thought about Pammy!:p
FlapsOne
19th May 2002, 15:00
An empty 777 from Korea to London...................now that's what I call value for money!
Is it any wonder BA have financial troubles?
And all for a few games of footbal !!!!!!!!!!!l
Brizzo
19th May 2002, 15:24
That does seem a little extravagant, particularly as the team may well be coming back fairly soon.
ETOPS
19th May 2002, 15:55
Dear All
Just to set things straight - If somebody wants to charter a BA 777 or Airbus etc they have to pay for it. That includes Tony Blair, Sven and his boys and whoever else. The costings include any empty sectors, crew costs etc. The only exception is Dreamflight where the crews are volunteers......
It is quite lucrative for BA.
t'aint natural
19th May 2002, 19:46
Interesting story in the Sunday Times today; BA is taking a planeload of junketing freebie merchants to Japan. If they were paying their way it'd cost £300,000. One quoted is a hack on the Observer, who says he couldn't think of a better way of trying out their sleeping accommodation.
overstress
19th May 2002, 21:24
t'aint
but it didn't cost BA that, did it, and 'they'obviously think the PR value is worth more than the cost to the company. After all, you're talking about it, aren't you?
PS I'm BA but only a humble line pilot
OzExpat
20th May 2002, 05:12
An airplane ..? :eek: :eek: :eek:
Overstress
The point in the articles was that BA could have sold the seats as all flights to the destination were fully booked. So BA could be losing substantial revenue.
Will the PR be worthwhile?
With the results published this morning they certainly need it.
Dead Leg...Dead ?
20th May 2002, 10:45
...Captain Stable
Can an AEROPLANE that is on the ground be called a Plane?
Captain Stable
20th May 2002, 13:32
OzEx:- I DID say "in the very worst case"! ;)
DLD:- No.
Chooch
20th May 2002, 13:46
It might have come back empty, but what about the 400+ dogs that stowed away.........
:D
Hand Solo
20th May 2002, 21:21
I could be wrong here but aren't there fairly restrictive caps on the number of seats available between LHR and Japan? I seem to remember VS being restricted to an A340 on the route a while back because BA were already running 744s on the NRT route and another 744 would have bust the limit. If thats still the case its quite possible that they wouldn't have been allowed to sell the seats on a scheduled flight basis anyway. Besides, there were probably only 50 hacks on board anyway, the rest of the seats being filled by BA managers, analysts and e-working outreach executives on fact finding trips and product evaluation duties.
Plane????
No actually there are at least 2 of them as they were both parked next to each other at LHR 2 days ago.
Guess that means that they're not staying with the team continuously...unless there are infact 3 (or more) such 777's!
Plane, aeroplane, plane, aircraft, flying machine...who cares. Get a life.
cormacshaw
26th May 2002, 14:12
On one aspect of this thread, what sort of ballpark figure are we talking about to charter an aircraft to transport a bunch of footballers from western Europe to the Far East? Or more pertentantly, how much more expensive than booking scheduled flights?
(I ask as one of the criticisms of the FAI by Roy Keane is that they used three scheduled flights to get from Dublin to Saipan :mad: :mad: :mad:)
I also noted that Cameroon's FA, who are known to be cash-strapped, chartered a 757 to travel from Paris, apparently with just 30 occupants. Then again, it sounds like they coulkd ask for a bit of a discount considering what happened in Bangkok.:rolleyes: Would requesting flyover permission be the responsibility of the flight crew before the flight or other airline staff?