Picking up on an issue that is being discussed in another thread (the KLM E190 one!) about the use of large aircraft on short-haul routes, I just wanted to pose a question to someone as I am a tad perplexed:
Why does BA operate a 744 on its London/Heathrow to Cairo route?
Whilst I accept LHR-CAI is considerably longer distance than something like LHR-AMS (KLM sometimes, only very rarely, use an A330 on this route!), is it because CAI is a popular destination this season or in the run up to Christmas, as I have never quite imagined it as a destination that would warrant the use of such a large aircraft, especially as CAI is not seen as a big connection hub for onward services, or is it?…:confused:
By: cloud_9 - 12th November 2008 at 14:25
A few reasons…
Thank you very much for that information Andy, I don’t think you could of explained it any better!:)
By: Jet 22 - 11th November 2008 at 20:47
^Basically then it is the West Coast flights the operate these CAI and TLV flights.
By: Skymonster - 11th November 2008 at 10:22
A few reasons:
Cairo is a popular destination – BA use variously 747s and 777s and bmi are upgrading their operation to A330. Lufthansa [for example] often schedule A340s or A330s to CAI from FRA, Air France have used 777s and A330s from CDG, and Egyptair sometimes use widebodies to LHR. Each time I’ve been to CAI the flights have been very full. The length of the route and the time difference between UK and Egypt doesn’t make it good for higher frequency operations, so the a/c need to be higher capacity.
CAI is a 24 hour airport – a long-haul widebody can be despatched from western Europe in the late afternoon or evening (after an arrival from say the USA late morning/early afternoon), turn in CAI in the very late evening/early hours, and be back in western Europe early in the morning in time for another USA departure mid/late morning. Thus, as I was once told, CAI can be a useful “gap filler” in a long haul schedule, allowing a long-haul aircraft to do a relatively short (time-wise) return to balance a much longer round trip operation that takes over 24 hours and thus cannot be performed by a single aircraft in a single day – the alternative would have a/c on the ground in western Europe for longer period.
Andy
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November 11, 2008 at 9:38 am