V-Flyer

Hi. My mate at VS has kindly informed me that the configuration of the 787 is as follows,

J31 W35 Y198 total 264 seats on board.

The J cabin is going to be an enhanced version of the original Upperclass suite and the bar has been redesigned although it will be more like the A330 bar than the older bars. The bar will also feature a television screen. She also mentioned there will be a new feature in Premium Economy and that Economy will be in a 3-3-3 config instead of virgins traditional 2-4-2.

Boston is the first destination according to her!

Exciting stuff!

oo)

Thanks for the information.

Bad news about Y though -- the 3-3-3 config is getting very poor reviews on the BA FT forum.

Cheers for the info Richie y)

I am slightly concerned about the word 'enhanced' being used ): The VS bean counters do have a habit of enhancing away amenities and features at an alarming rate.

Sorry my knowledge of the VS Dreamliners is massively lacking, is there a delivery date penciled in yet?

From what she told me the new boss is very customer focused and doesn't want to detract anymore from the passengers.

And she said September. So I think it'll be operational in October sometime.

I guess we can't expect to see a few training flights on Little Red routes? ?|

Operational in October - and it won't be seen on any Little Red routes.

I guess a route like BOS makes sense at first as it's a "there and back in under 24 hours" route only needing 1 aircraft to operate daily.

Would fully expect the 787-9's to do longer runs to HKG/NRT/LAX as standard once the fleet is fully delivered.

Be interesting to see the numbers for BAs 787-900, I know there will be 8F but dont know about club, wtp or at.

I do wonder though what VS will do long term about the bucket and spade Orlando route in 2018+. The A333 doesn't fit (too little Y seats), neither does the A350 (predicted small seat numbers)- ditto, neither does 787 as discussed here.

(think abuot it, 200 eco pax is almost HALF the 375 a 744 fits in LGW capacity, and they need 2 for Orlando at peak times already).

Personally I still see VS needing some A380 purely for capacity reasons on the Orlando route.

The issue with the A380 is the need to use it on restricted slot pairs at difficult airports, such as Washington and San Francisco where a capacity increase can be gained on the same route served by a smaller aircraft in the past. You cannot afford to run an A380 on Virgin's margins unless its is packed out with high paying customers - holiday routes are not that profitable per ASK, but business customer routes would generate sufficient income to make the A380 pay. I do see a case for the A380 but its a very slim one.

Well as for Orlando, the A380 has been ruled out. 4 engines are out. So it's probs going to be on the a350 or 787 in a leisure config. I.e a smaller amount of J seats and a higher W and Y capacity.

Anyway back to 787......

My mate also told me it's operating Washington and New Yorks. Eventually it will be doing the longer routes. And don't forget it opens up brand new ultra long haul routes! Ie London-Perth. London-Hawaii.

One can't help wondering if VS will use its 30th birthday in June to make some sort of big announcement about its plans for the 787s and new routes?

Gumshoe that would be interesting.

I think they might announce the intention to order A350s or change their last 5 options of 787-900 to 787-1000 for busier routes.

I really need VS to hurry up and make an announcement about Rio!! Getting to the point where I need to make a booking on this route for 2015...

Interesting that the J and W cabins have less seating than the A333, whereas the Y cabin has more. Seems like a further reward seat squeeze.

Direct flights London -> Hawaii definitely interest me at least.

Wonder how expensive they'd be - as likely a fuel expensive hop... ultra-long haul flights from SG -> NWY were cancelled (longest scheduled flight in world - or was) - due to SG Airlines not being able to make route work - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... -time.html)

Personally I doubt VS could fill those flights with enough J pax to make the flight pay.

clarkeysntfc wrote:Would fully expect the 787-9's to do longer runs to HKG/NRT/LAX as standard once the fleet is fully delivered.

These routes are mostly served by the A340-600. The A340-600 has 316 seats and the 787 only has 264 seats that is a difference of 52 seats. Is that enough capacity especially HKG/NRT only has 1 flight a day?

I wouldn't say it was a squeeze in Y. The aircraft is a lot wider than the a330 and the aircraft is having a new Y seat. Plus the fact that passengers in economy want a cheap flight.

sky0000547 wrote:

clarkeysntfc wrote:Would fully expect the 787-9's to do longer runs to HKG/NRT/LAX as standard once the fleet is fully delivered.

These routes are mostly served by the A340-600. The A340-600 has 316 seats and the 787 only has 264 seats that is a difference of 52 seats. Is that enough capacity especially HKG/NRT only has 1 flight a day?

The 600 has 308 seats. The aircraft are directly replacing the 600/300 fleets with a reduced fuel bill of 25% per customer. The Y cabin I reduced from 225 to 198. The W cabin is reduced by 3 seats and the J cabin by 14.

Like I said I wouldn't be surprised if the 787-1000 was optioned for the remaining 5 aircraft. With the additional space being filled with J for HKG flights.

Now it would be interesting for me if the new 787 was operational on the BOS route for October, as I'm booked mid-October on that route in UC and though I'm happy to try the UCDS, am concerned by how much bad press the new suite, and the 333s generally are getting. So if the new 787s are getting an 'enhanced' version of the current UC suite that would be nice

Richie wrote:I wouldn't say it was a squeeze in Y. The aircraft is a lot wider than the a330 and the aircraft is having a new Y seat. Plus the fact that passengers in economy want a cheap flight.

A330 cabin width is 5.28m.
B787 cabin width is 5.5m so 0.22m or 22 cm wider.

Standard Y seat on VS on an A330 is 17.5" or 0.445m.

It may not sound much but that's either 11 cm narrower aisles on the B787 or narrower seats (albeit there may be some change due to the different curvature of the planes). Some might call it a squeeze.

I can see where your coming from. However the seat used on the A330 are all built as 2s and have a 2 separate centre armrests between the E and F seats in Y. Add that to the extra useable cabin width and the new seat and I can see it as space well used.

Will it see the end of the headrest covers.....? Like the LGW 747s

Richie wrote:
Will it see the end of the headrest covers.....? Like the LGW 747s

Antimacassar's are no longer required with modern seat coverings, now just a bit of history, but a lovely word to sneak into a conversation .....................

Richie wrote:Hi. My mate at VS has kindly informed me that the configuration of the 787 is as follows,

J31 W35 Y198 total 264 seats on board.

The J cabin is going to be an enhanced version of the original Upperclass suite and the bar has been redesigned although it will be more like the A330 bar than the older bars. The bar will also feature a television screen. She also mentioned there will be a new feature in Premium Economy and that Economy will be in a 3-3-3 config instead of virgins traditional 2-4-2.

Boston is the first destination according to her!

Exciting stuff!

oo)

Being a PE customer (until I get a pay rise at least) - what's the new feature in PE..?! Sounds interesting, perhaps a bar - or something similar?

From conversations I've had recently - 'enhanced' in UC on the 787 means they are taking all the best bits from the older UCS and then from the newer UCDS. Speak to any member of cabin crew to know that VS are fully aware of how much of a fail the UCDS has been on the A333's has been. They'll not want a repeat with their new aircraft.

Are we given any advance warning of which day the first PAX flight will be? I'd love a seat for sure.