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Peter47
10th Sep 2019, 13:28
Looking at the BASource I see that four aircraft were flown to other airports for storage (Abuja - Lagos, SFO - OAK, EWR - IAD & BOS - IAD. Why is this? I know that some of the airports are rather tight on space but I would have thought they could accommodate extra aircraft for a couple of days. As the strike was affecting outbound flights presumably aircraft are being held abroad as they really wouldn't have been any space at LHR for the entire BA based fleet. Haven't aircraft been ferried to places such as Cardiff during Thanksgiving & Xmas.

As an aside I remember large numbers of Pan Am aircraft at stored in remote areas at LHR during a strike in 1985 including two jumbos in their maintenance area.

SpringHeeledJack
10th Sep 2019, 14:13
I suppose that, simply put, if the airports didn't have the space then they couldn't be parked there. They would then be ferried to the nearest field with space appropriate to the aircraft's weight and size. It might also be that BA are an important/strategic customer of said airport and an extra effort is made to accommodate their plight.

PanAm had their own Mx facility at LHR, so at least there was some company space for their steed during the strike. I can remember the lovely cafe adjoining the facility and partook of a few deliciously unhealthy breakfasts back in the day :-)

Sobelena
10th Sep 2019, 14:21
Would it not be so that when the strike is over these aircraft are in place (or near to) to operate inbound services asap?

Doctor Cruces
18th Sep 2019, 15:02
Looking at the BASource I see that four aircraft were flown to other airports for storage (Abuja - Lagos, SFO - OAK, EWR - IAD & BOS - IAD. Why is this? I know that some of the airports are rather tight on space but I would have thought they could accommodate extra aircraft for a couple of days. As the strike was affecting outbound flights presumably aircraft are being held abroad as they really wouldn't have been any space at LHR for the entire BA based fleet. Haven't aircraft been ferried to places such as Cardiff during Thanksgiving & Xmas.

As an aside I remember large numbers of Pan Am aircraft at stored in remote areas at LHR during a strike in 1985 including two jumbos in their maintenance area.

were they actually flown there or could that have just been where they were when the strike started?

DaveReidUK
18th Sep 2019, 17:37
were they actually flown there or could that have just been where they were when the strike started?

BA don't serve any of those routes, so the aircraft were clearly positioned to the airports in question.