There’s a massive amount of spin by Boeing in there…

In 1971 Southwest started operating the 737… well, duh… what else were they going to use, DC3’s?

So of course they’re still operating 737’s… the aircraft itself is basically the same, they only needed to send their engine shop and Avionics guys on courses, which I’m convinced is the reason that stuck with the 737…

When new starts like jetBlue are picking the A320 over the 737, dosen’t it become obvious what the logical choice is for airlines starting from scratch, without having to retrain their whole staff in a fleet renewal program?

And while Southwest might work in the US, where there are no slots, so it’s easy to offer point to point flights, and where there is also a helluva lot more avaliable airspace, I don’t see that it can work so well in Europe, where there aren’t as many secondary airports as in the states, and where everything is goverened by slots… I tend to go along with Airbus’ thoughts that the A380 will alleviate congestion at airports.

I would also suggest that,

Another key is having one airplane type, which vastly simplifies and cuts the cost of training and maintenance (the major carriers, such as American, can have 10 or more different airplane types.)

an Airbus family concept, where much of the parts and ratings are near identical, is more efficient than running a fleet of, as Boeing predict, 737/767/7E7/777, which share precious few features…

Ok, for low cost airlines that only operate either the 737 or 320, it won’t matter, but they (Boeing) can’t have it both ways… either an airline is all 737, or it’s not.

Anyway… at the end of the day, I’d still rather be on a 757-200 with RB211’s than anything else… 😀 😉

nothing to drastic…

Couple of years ago, a British Midland 737-400 coming into GLA from LHR, that wobbled a bit coming in in the crosswind on finals. As I recall, the Forth Road bridge over by Edinburgh was shut at the time, due to 80mph winds, so it can’t have been much slower than that on the West Coast…

Although, the worse landing was probably a really bumpy landing on a BA flight at LGW, coming from GLA, again on a 737-400. This was the early morning flight (leaving GLA at 6:15am) so quite a few of the pax had gone to sleep after the full english breakfast… they all woke with a start on landing, and I felt quite queasy for a day or two… not sure that wasn’t due to whether or not those Sausages had been quite done, though… 😉

Scanned straight out of my passport, so apologies for the obvious cheesiness…

Hmmm.. I’d suggest, however, that with EI operating the A330, the only possible commonality aspect would be to move to an all Airbus fleet, rather than a Boeing shorthaul fleet/Airbus Longhaul fleet, no?

Especially as they only have about half a dozen longhaul planes…
Unless they’re mooting getting rid of the 330’s, too? But as we all know, Boeing don’t have commonality within their fleet, anyway, so it dosen’t seem to make any sense…

RE: Most Memorable flight?

am I the only person in the forum that hasn’t been in a jumpseat? :S

Only been on the flightdeck once, 12 years ago (24/12/90), on a BA BAe1-11 (G-AXJK), en route ZRH-BHX (BA5403).
Attachments:

RE: Last Night !!

Aye, I saw teh game on thursday… I reckon our chances of going through are decent, if only coz They’ll be missing their both their Centrebacks through suspension, and the boy Dinglmayr that came on when the Brazilian was sent off (cannae mind his name… Marcos, or something?) didn’t look at all comforatable (not that wee Maloney was complaining when Dinglmayr set him up :D). And if he’s the standard of centre back they’ll be fielding, Big Bad John’ll have a field day…

RE: Flight 1

bmi British Midland BD1 GLA-LHR A320