Virgin Atlantic chooses B787 Dreamliners!

Im sure some airline have placed orders just hoping for long delays and compensation to boot.

Airlines are in the buisness of flying PAX and cargo from One place to the other inorder to make money , they plan future fleets considering there growth strategy and where they expect themselves to be down the line . No airline exec that i have met (and in my line of work we meet all sorts of them) will hope that all his growth strategy is thrown off just because he will gain large portions of compensation . You simply do not lock up billions of dollars 3-6 years in advance just to make few millions from compensation. No one in there sane minds will lock up and committ guarantees to billions of dollars for anyother purpose then to buy aircraft and use it to expands its buisness .It is the same with hedging , some airlines make (Have made) higher % of profit when they hedge for fuel (as compared to normal % profit) , but we dont see them selling aircrafts and going into the fuel trading buisness 😀

What if a problem occurs with the 747LCF, it could quite easily!

Boeing has contigencies , thinking that they wont have contigencies in place for a 10 billlion dollar development program that has so much at stake ( Pre EIS order book will most likely consist of more orders then the A330 (340 excluded) has till date ) is bordering foolishness . Boeing is in contact with Volga just incase they need there aircrafts for moving equipment incase one or 2 LCF’s has a downtime , the bigger stuff will in that case be shipped and boeing allready has that ready as a contigency .

Anything could still go wrong.

But Wont;) 😎

Talking of style, have you see the 747 LCF monster that arrived at PIk earlier in the week, makes the Beluga from Airbus look ultrastylish! And the A380 graceful.

Lets all remember that this B787 has loads of new technology including a carbon composite fuselage, untried technology in such a large scale. Anything could still go wrong.

Im sure some airline have placed orders just hoping for long delays and compensation to boot. This could still happen. What if a problem occurs with the 747LCF, it could quite easily!

Food for thought.

I doubt any airline has ordered the 787 hoping for delays. That simply would be insane.

A delayed plane wreaks havoc on scheduling, especialy when future expansion plans depend on it. In the case of the A380, the havoc its 2 year delay has caused is to the tune of hundred of millions of dollars.

You are right that anything can still happen with the 787 project. But I have a feeling, Boeing have it well in hand and if any delay occurs it’ll be a matter of days or weeks, not months or years.
I base this belief on the fact that the schedule has not slipped so much as an hour in the last 3 years.

Still, if an airline really did want to order a plane and hope for delays and compensation… they should climb aboard the A350! :diablo:

Ilyushin Il-96 ??:eek:
Be lucky
David

😉 😀 Its fake though.

fly in style instead of some whale of an A380! :dev2:

You wont say that if it came to NCL 😀

James

Ah i see. I hope they keep the 747s on not only do they have the best names there all pretty young aircraft they can show airbus hows to fly in style instead of some whale of an A380! :dev2:

Talking of style, have you see the 747 LCF monster that arrived at PIk earlier in the week, makes the Beluga from Airbus look ultrastylish! And the A380 graceful.

Lets all remember that this B787 has loads of new technology including a carbon composite fuselage, untried technology in such a large scale. Anything could still go wrong.

Im sure some airline have placed orders just hoping for long delays and compensation to boot. This could still happen. What if a problem occurs with the 747LCF, it could quite easily!

Food for thought.

The last I recall reading was that VS had deffered there A-380’s to 2013 , They will surely buy the A380 as its per seat fuel burn figures look good and SRB just recently said that he expects the aircraft to make good money for them . I think that they’ll exercize the rights to the 787’s within 24 months or so as its really getting tight up there with deliveries of the jet . I can also see them order A350-1000’s in some point in time .

Ah i see. I hope they keep the 747s on not only do they have the best names there all pretty young aircraft they can show airbus hows to fly in style instead of some whale of an A380! :dev2:

Wonder what he means by Three plane maunfactures? I can see SRB making VS have a 787 A380 A340 fleet.

James

Ilyushin Il-96 ??:eek:
Be lucky
David

This has been suggested by many.

Trouble is, the engines for a 737/A320 replacement will not be online till 2012 or so, perhaps a little earlier. But not now.

To gain a worthwhile % in economics, new engines are a must.

Good news for Boeing. Now all they have to do is produce it on schedule.

I’m thinking it might be smart for Airbus to put the 350 on hold (why split the market other than just be a spoiler?) and put all of its resources towards a super efficient 320/737 replacement.
If they can make a major breakthrough there, they’ll have something.

If I was a vindictive person… I would be dancing on the heads of a few members here who thought I was being biased when I said the 787 was a winner and thew original A350 just wouldn’t cut it.

In stead… I’m happy to just smile and imagine them eating humble pie :diablo:

That said… I’m amazed and the rate with which Boeing have captured so many orders for the plane. I hope for their sake, they don’t pull an Airbus and get complacent. Long way to go yet to prove its the plane they’re selling.

Im pretty sure i read somewhere that VS would be keeping the 747 on for a while yet until or should i say if VS get the A380.

The last I recall reading was that VS had deffered there A-380’s to 2013 , They will surely buy the A380 as its per seat fuel burn figures look good and SRB just recently said that he expects the aircraft to make good money for them . I think that they’ll exercize the rights to the 787’s within 24 months or so as its really getting tight up there with deliveries of the jet . I can also see them order A350-1000’s in some point in time .

Im pretty sure i read somewhere that VS would be keeping the 747 on for a while yet until or should i say if VS get the A380.

They have 13 747 and 19 A340-600, We have to wait and see what they do.

JAmes

Could be big news for Glasgow and Manchester.

I was thinking that myself, not long now until the trial service begins from GLA to Florida.

Im pretty sure i read somewhere that VS would be keeping the 747 on for a while yet until or should i say if VS get the A380.

I think it’s important the airline industry has at least two, and hopefully someday three, plane maunfactures

Wonder what he means by Three plane maunfactures? I can see SRB making VS have a 787 A380 A340 fleet.

James

He asked for maximum runway length. The plane has a stated range of 5650 kms (or was it miles, whatever), so if it goes taxiing from one end to the other you get 5650 kms. Probably less as the plane will consume more on the ground then in the air.

Semantics :p

😮 The 787 will need 3000 miles of runways to take off? Well, still less than the A343 anyway :diablo:

Realy though, I think you meant 5650 meters.? 😉

He asked for maximum runway length. The plane has a stated range of 5650 kms (or was it miles, whatever), so if it goes taxiing from one end to the other you get 5650 kms. Probably less as the plane will consume more on the ground then in the air.

Do you think Virgin are going to use the purchase rights to hold out for the proposed 787-10 stretch? As that cuts into the 777-200 market, it may be a closer replacement to the A340-600s. They would still be losing capacity though…

Good question.

There is always the possibility of them introducing more routes where a lower capacity is required. Also this will be a great bargaining tool to use with Airbus to get great discounts on A350XWB’s wont it.

I cant see them using aircraft with lower capacities on existing routes as they seem to fill most flights that I have travelled on during the last 5 years, these include flights to NY, back from LA, HKG return and 4 returns to JoBurg.

Sir Branson is quite a cool cookie and he will do whatever he needs to do to help build the business.

Do you think Virgin are going to use the purchase rights to hold out for the proposed 787-10 stretch? As that cuts into the 777-200 market, it may be a closer replacement to the A340-600s. They would still be losing capacity though…

😮 The 787 will need 3000 miles of runways to take off? Well, still less than the A343 anyway :diablo:

Realy though, I think you meant 5650 meters.? 😉

I’ve spoken to Boeing regarding the 787 runway lengths for some work I’ve been undertaking. Although they are not releasing any detailed information at the moment (other than to airlines), they were suggesting that, as with most LH aircraft, it is designed to be operated off a 3000m runway.