I find it amazing ....

.... just how far these Virgin planes travel in a few days.

I'm sat in Bombay killing time before heading to the airport to get the 02:35 VS355 home.

I checked in the toolbox and I'll be going back on the same plane I came out on last Monday - Miss Sunshine, G-VRAY.

After she dropped me off, she flew home to London, then Miami and back, New York and back twice and then Washington and back before heading out here to Bombay to pick me up and take me home.

I know its what they do, but it still amazes me. Does one of you aviation buffs know how far the average VS plane flys in a year?

Cheers

Martin

PS I now call it Bombay again, because many local Indians here call it that. Mumbai was a political gesture apparently and some of the people I have been with this week here in Bombay have not bothered to change their view on the name.

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I know its what they do, but it still amazes me. Does one of you aviation buffs know how far the average VS plane flys in a year?

Quick calculation

365 days a year
-52 to allow the poor girl a day off a week to reapply her lipstick and do her nails
-14 to allow for more intensive work - visit to the spa for some in-depth treatments.

so 299 flying days

The complicating factor is how many miles a trip so working on an average of 5000 miles (nice round number) per leg = 10000 per day

so 299 * 10,000 = 2,990,000 miles so just shy of 3 million miles a year

I know what you mean, Martin. I once flew back from the States on a day flight, and by the time I woke up the following morning the plane I flew on was in HKG! That's when I started to appreciate how hard the fleet is worked.

...so 299 * 10,000 = 2,990,000 miles so just shy of 3 million miles a year

Thanks Tonty, I knew it had to be a big number. |:) Go to the top of the class.

3 million miles is 6 round-trips to the moon (or more depending where it is on it's orbit).

bubbles, the 346 featured on Wednesday going to South Africa has covered 609611 miles in the last 3 months. Over the year this is almost 2.5 million.

English Rose, one of the Gatwick 747's has covered 712247, so this means this lady will cover 2.85 million.

On Wednesday evening, Bubbles went to South Africa, she has already returned, been to LA and back and is now over Canada on her way to LA again... earning her keep this week...

The economics of flying.......they are making money in the air versus time on the tarmac.................

No wonder some of the newer A333s look like they have already been through the ringer

Nearly 3 million miles a year... wow, certainly puts any complaints I may have on cabin cleanliness and fair wear and tear into perspective.

I wonder how many passengers each aircraft type carries a year

I wonder how many passengers each aircraft type carries a year

I'll let you do that calculation Joey !

But I'll give you a formula

N = FD * 2 * S * L%

Where

FD = number of flying days per per year
S = number of seats on plane type
L% = Load factor %

Cheers tonty, will sit down with the abacus if I tire of watching the squirrels out the window later on

It is amazing. One of the reason I love VF is you can easily track where the aircraft has been and where it is going after!

Cheers tonty, will sit down with the abacus if I tire of watching the squirrels out the window later on

Squirrels are intelligent creatures so get them to work it out - they will probably be quicker than you ): ): ):

The 330's work about 13 out of 14 days, that is 26 flights per 2 weeks, thats 686 flights a year. if load factor is 80% thats about 540 people using each seat each year...

Squirrels are intelligent creatures so get them to work it out - they will probably be quicker than you ): ): ):

Easy Doctor Dolittle.. was more of a general comment as opposed to looking for a fixed number… won't get to an accurate one anyways without data from VS giving the actual number of pax on each flight.