Actually, the prospects of selling it aren’t good… There are a number of 747-400s already sitting in storage, and there’s pretty much no airline looking for passenger 747-400s right now. There are also some 747-400Fs sitting in storage and slots for pax-to-freighter job are booked up for quite some time into the future, so a conversion is unlikely in the near term. In today’s business climate, I suspect the realistic options are to park it or part it out.

Andy

I never said the prospects were good for selling, I just said the price was good for this aircraft.

Well, G-COBO has just pulled up and looks as though it will be my return aircraft this evening, so that is something at least!

rdc1000 – yes, interior trim is nice and clean, bright and airy, unlike the slightly shabby and tired looking ‘BWDA, ‘BWDB and ‘BXTN. Also decidely less vibration and noise etc on engine start up, and far less of a “thump” when gear was retracted or lowered. Oh, and a very obvious “new car” type smell. Sorry to say yesterday’s 17:15 GCI-MAN service was still being operated by the older ‘planes (as was my GR601 flight out to GCI on Monday morning 🙁 )

Yep and it was still an older plane when I flew down yesterday and expect it will be on my return north tomorrow night :-(. I guess MAN will only get new once the delivery of the second aircraft is made.

No. The combined airlines are now Thomson Airways. First Choice Airways no longer exists as a brand nor does Thomsonfly apart from obviously on the aircraft livery.
It is the travel companies themselves that are still seperate brands however working together under TUI Travel because of the popularity of them both within the UK and Ireland.

Apologies, you are correct, it is purely the Travel Brands which will remain seperate. It appears that Thomson Airways, as a brand (rather than the entity, as I highlighted earlier) will come about in May. Interestingly, the same source suggested on another part of their site that the airline would have two brands.

Thomson Airways to be single name for First Choice, Thomsonfly
Graham Dunn, London (16Jun08, 10:28 GMT, 232 words)

UK charter carriers Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways are to merge and operate under the Thomson Airways brand from next summer following last year’s merger of their parent company.

The in-house airlines became part of TUI Travel after the merger of tour operators TUI and First Choice in September last year and have been operating under a single air operator’s certificate (AOC) since May. Pilots at the two carriers are flying together and more integration work is planned for the coming months.

Newly-formed Thomson Airways’ managing director, Chris Browne, says: “Our aim is to build on the very best from these two award-winning airlines that share a very strong drive to provide a truly exceptional customer experience. By incorporating both airlines under one name, we will now operate 65 aircraft to over 80 destinations from 21 airports in the UK.”

The carriers will begin joint operations as Thomson Airways from May next year. While the airline will operate under one brand, the company will continue to operate the Thomson and First Choice brands on the high street. Rebranding of the fleet to Thomson Airways colours will be carried out over the next two years.

Both carriers currently operate Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for longer-haul operations, while on short-haul routes First Choice operates Airbus A320/321s and Thomsonfly a mix of Boeing 737-300/500/800s. The group also has 23 Boeing 787 aircraft on order.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news

Why do they always cover their faces? :confused:

‘Cos they’re really ugly! 😉

I think it would be interesting to know who they are in terms of background, are they students? :confused: I went to a very non-political university, and know that some are more active in this respect, but I didn’t think students did this sort of thing anymore?

If they’re not students then where does their money come from? Do they work, but every so often book a day or two off to go and protest?

If they are being funded by ‘mummy and daddy’ then I’d doubt they’d pick aviation because most of them will like their holidays to Barbados at xmas, or maybe that’s the reason they cover their faces, so that they can board a plane and travel business class when paid for by someone else.

I think the airlines should collectively make a stand and add these people to their passenger blacklists.

Are they even bothering repainting their ex FCA planes ?
This time last year TCX were nearly finished with the MYT lot.

Although they have been combined to form Thomson Airways, the two airlines are due to continue to operate under seperate brands (at least for now), so unlike TCX/MYT, there will be no repainting.

G-COBO is due in Guernsey about the 6th of March, hope this fits your schedule!:D

So long as they kick it into schedule fast enough and use it on the right route then I could be laughing! 😀

He isn’t interested in lowering the cost of air travel. He’s interested in lowering the headline price, so he can get more punters to buy tickets. Then, once he has their bums on his seats, he’ll squeeze every extra penny out of his newly captive customers he can.

Situation normal.

So, he lowers the headline price and lets you choose what else you pay for?? Where as those heroes at BA just charge more for the headline price and give you it all for free, good on them, except, hold on, their headline price is more than the combined cost of a seat, baggage, check-in and a cup of tea onboard the LCCs…..:eek::eek:

It’s funny, this forum is full of people hailing back to the glory days of flying, when prices were high, but service was great, and some need to move forward and get with the times.

When you buy a car you’d rather choose your own spec, and when you buy a computer these days you can often pick and choose the spec, why shouldn’t flying be the same….you pay a basic price and then choose what you want on top? That way, if you want everything, you can pay the full price the same as BA, but if you don’t think you’ll want a cup of tea on board then save your money.

I also think it’s interesting that everybody talks about how scandalously expensive the onboard tea is, and how great the traditional airlines are at providing this for free, but often, the tea that you pay for lasts more than one sip (honestly, those airline cups don’t even touch the sides of my big mouth and it’s all gone in one go!) and is often better because you get the bag so it’s a fresh cup of tea, not one that has been trailed from front to back before it gets to you, maybe with more water poured on top to dilute it half way through!

I don’t want to pay to use the loo on board, I’d be as p*ssed off as the next man on here, but actually I’m really not bothered about a cup of tea for “free” because when travelling on business I like my Costa tea and almond croissant of a morning, so why should I be charged for the privelage of a sipful of rubbish?