RE: Future of 146/Avro RJ?

I found my quote..and I stick by it all. Please don’t slag me off because I perceive aviation in business terms, we are all entitled to our opinions and if you don’t get hung up on personal prefernces then you’ll understand my comments..here goes….

“I think the point is this, BAe have been flogging a dead horse with this one. Their 4-engined Avro RJs are simply not as economical as the new proposals from Embraer and Canadair (Bombardier). This has long been a problem and it was the aircrafts field performance that was a major selling point. Embraer have made guarantees to Crossair that their RJ170 will be able to operate on London City’s runway and so their aircraft is meeting field performance needs. As a result the more inefficent RJX family cannot compete, it’s only real advantages are noise (I’m not sure what the Embraer aircraft is like in this area) and the earlier availability of their aircraft. I have been a fan of the 146/RJ family, but can see logically why it has come to an end.
People get hung up on nostalgia and personal preference for an aircraft, but if there is no commercial benefits then you cannot expect a company to manufacture or use them on the basis that they look “nice.””

RE: Help please!!

If you are flying to Washington from Manchester then I can almost 100% gaurantee you’ll be flying with bmi British Midland and then transferring to a United Airlines flight (or a United feeder flight) as Washington Dulles is a large United hub (hence why bmi fly there..Star allaince etc). It seems likely to me that flying eagle is just a ticketing agent and that there has been some confusion as to whom you are flying with. Do you know your flight code..that would help.

RE: Heathrow Question

The runway in question is not exclusively used for landings. Heathrow operate a sytem of using one of the main parallel runways for landing and one for take-offs, they do it one way round in the morning and then swap around in the afternoon. This minimises the noise for local inhabitants living under the flights paths into and out of Heathrow.

RE: Comments Please

No I wasn’t having a go at all, and I wish you every luck in the future, but I know exactly how comlex the industry is, with profit margins as low as 2% at many companies. As a result I just thought that seeking expert advice may save time and money in the long run, there is indeed more to consultancies than you seem to think.

I was a little hurt at your implications that I am just an “aircraft spotter” who could easily come up with a J31/32. I do actually have a vast knowledge of the industry, not only the planes, but also the business. If you wanted to get into a discussion on planes then it wouldn’t be a problem though, I could indeed have easily quoted all the aircraft you mentioned, it just seemed that your expectations were set rather high.

Apologies once again.

Richard

RE: BAC 1-11

Africa is indeed the best place to see them..and the largest fleets can be found in Nigeria (where airlines seem to have a passion for them). That way you would not even need to go as far as South Africa, though I would probably recommend South Africa above Nigeria, especially if you wish to fly on a 111 (as mentioned, try Nationwide). But to see 111s in their masses then Nigeria!

RE: Comments Please

Russian Aircraft take LONG periods of time to be certified in their homeland, and even under slight commmercial pressure very rarely get their civil approval under foreign governing bodies (ie. CAA, FAA and JAA). I’m not sure what options you are looking at for fitting the aircraft out, but it seems unlikely that the standard specification would allow you to meet performance and reliabiltity standards to be set by competitors (I vaguely remember reading your idea..is it to set up an airline in Australia?).

Now what I’m confused about (as someone who is currently in the process of interviews to become an Aviation Consultant) is why you don’t have much idea of what you are doing? Do you have the minimum 3 years experience normally required to run an airline? Have you moved towards getting the necessary approvals? Why are you asking people on AirlinerWorld Forum what they think of aircraft, when basically, few of them will have the knowledge necessary to make decisions on aircraft spec/performance/costs? Maybe you should consider contacting an Aviation Consultancy for help, and then maybe an airline about using their AOC until you get approval. That way things may move along more quickly.

Aircraft wise, If you are running a passenger airline then maybe you should look at the vast nubers of 19 seat aircraft now floodin the deserts of America..there are loads of BAe Jetstream 31/32s going spare and there are some very reasonable lease rates available out there at the moment.

Richard

RE: Only the Big Three

Such consolidation has been expected in Europe for a growing length of time, even before September 11th..which has just brought forward the fates of many airlines. At first this consolidation will not be through just mergers but strengthened alliances..and most people fully expect that KLM will join BA in oneWorld (for a start they have signed agreements covering flights to the middle east).

As for the Lufthansa Chairman making that statement, it isn’t really bold at all as the entire indusrty is thinking the same thing and saying the same thing..even publicly.