What kind of day does a short-haul aircraft have?
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What kind of day does a short-haul aircraft have?
I wondered this after returning from Malta recently. The Britannia 767 pulled in at the gate at Gatwick at about 2000hrs; to my knowledge the aircraft had naturally come out from the UK (I assume, as it was the flight I left England on, although it was not the same reg) and back again, and presumably would shortly be going somewhere else. Do they ever stop, apart from the mandatory maintenance periods? Do the aircraft ever get left overnight on some stands (I assume this would be pretty expensive)? The cycle of activitiy seems so constant.
Last edited by Jetdriver; 5th May 2004 at 23:28.
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It all depends I think is the correct answer. At EGNT they sometimes sit 'idle' overnight at the beginning and end of summer season and indeed often during the winter, but a few years ago I remember a JMC 757 getting delayed, and a 2nd having to be brought in to help it make up time, as they litterally had NO extra downtime AT ALL to enable them to ever catch the delay up!
Busy old world at times is the charter industry!
GWK
Busy old world at times is the charter industry!
GWK
Alba Gu Brath
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Depends on the type of operations. Generally, if it is operating scheduled short-haul flights then there will be anything from 2 to 8 sectors during the day, starting about 0500 local and finishing about midnight. If it's on charter then it will be operating between 2 and 6 sectors, starting at 0500 local but carrying on all through the night. Daily maintenance requirements mean the aircraft will be on the ground for a couple of hours at some point during the course of the day or night.
Obviously winter and summer flying programs are quite different and most charter aircraft will only operate 2 longish sectors during the day and be sitting on the ground for about 8-10 hours overnight.
Obviously winter and summer flying programs are quite different and most charter aircraft will only operate 2 longish sectors during the day and be sitting on the ground for about 8-10 hours overnight.
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Also some operators have mixed use aircraft or fleets so it can be pax by day and freight by night. Other considerations will be airport opening times. Some close, some don't depending on factors like noise abatement so whilst an operator might want to run their aircraft to their max legal daily limit then it may not always be possible. Slots may need to be acquired as well which is a science in itself.
in 1998 i was on hols in the dominican republic and got caught up in hurricane georges, due to damage at the airport our return to the uk was delayed and we had to coach it to the north of the island to get a plane home. after waiting many hours a chartered 767 appeared in the distant sky and all cheered when it touched down, the plane had been sent out from the uk empty and so it was more or less a re-fuel, change of crew, turn around and straight off again. I remember thinking about half way home - which if I re-call is mid atlantic and quite a long way from anywhere else - what an amazing feat of engineering modern aircraft are...the flights quite a long one - can't remeber how long but it was +7 hrs (for some reason I recall nearer 11 but that can't be right?) anyway those engines had been at it for a very long time indeed that day, without much of a let up. We were told by the crew that it had routed Gatwick to Miami (where some of our package co-horts had been evacuated to) to Gatwick, Gatwick to Peurto wherever we were and back to Gatwick more or less non-stop.
