V-Flyer

All 5 of the 747's based at LHR are to leave the fleet between 2015/2016 and will be replaced with the 5 'on option' 787-9 Dreamliners.

This means only 7 747's will remain, all LGW based.

Inevitable, but still a shame. I love flying on the 747's, but the interiors are starting to show some serious signs of wear and tear now.

Yes, we knew it was coming - maybe just not so soon.

The A zone in the nose with all that space will be sorely missed - I'm sure the Dreamliners will be "tighter" although hopefully VS have learned from the A330s.

I guess we've been spoiled with the 747s - rather like Concorde they will be fondly remembered for decades to come and deserve their place in the history books. I somehow doubt we'll ever say the same about Dreamliners ...

This is a shame.

Looks like VS have decided to replace the entire LHR fleet with 21 787-9's and the already delivered 10 A330's.

I'd guesstimate that this would be completed by the end of 2016 or early 2017?

On a positive note the LHR fleet will be extremely young and fuel efficient. On a negative note this is an overall capacity drop in terms of available seats.

Just leaves the 7 LGW jumbos to be replaced towards the end of the decade. It's an interesting one that, as a 400+ seat aircraft will be needed for the peak season travel.

Where has this info come from?
If it's correct, it means a massive reduction in capacity,
and 2 of these LHR based aircraft (G-VWOW & G-VROC)
are the youngest 747s in Virgin's fleet.

If it's come from SRH, it'll be accurate.

367 seats on a Heathrow 747.

Air NZ have 302 in their 787-9's but in a very economy-focused layout. I'd imagine VS will have about 40 less than that at least.

Sad day, great aircraft but Mustang Sally and Lady Penelope are " ancient " now, wonder there will all go.

clarkeysntfc wrote:367 seats on a Heathrow 747.

Air NZ have 302 in their 787-9's but in a very economy-focused layout. I'd imagine VS will have about 40 less than that at least.

264 seats on the VS 787-9;s.

There are 21 787s now on order to replace 5 x 747, 13 x 346 and 2 x 343's = 20 aircraft. (I have left one 343 off as it is already spare from the SYD route cull and being sent back before the 787's arrive.

So that leaves 1 aircraft for growth?

The time had to come, and of course no more parties in the A zone . It'll be a shame to see them gone, but they are getting long in the tooth (21 years old for some) and would have needed a huge sum spent to update the interiors let alone keep passing C and D checks.

But, what a downsizing for VS, from a fleet of 747s and 346s with 300+ seats to a largest size of 264 seats. It means fewer miles rewards for sure, but at the same time will be modern and fuel efficient. Still, it's a significant reduction even with improved load factors courtesy of Delta (I guess is the hope).

What is VS actually going to do to grow I wonder?

slinky09 wrote:What is VS actually going to do to grow I wonder?

I wouldnt be surprised to see the VS A380 orders converted to 330's and shipped to DL and likewise the DL (ex NW) 787 orders delivered to DL then shipped over to VS.

Can't see any 380's in the fleet now that 747's are being downsized.

But that s just my speculation.

slinky09 wrote:
But, what a downsizing for VS, from a fleet of 747s and 346s with 300+ seats to a largest size of 264 seats. It means fewer miles rewards for sure,

What is VS actually going to do to grow I wonder?

If you take the seat numbers off planespotters.net you get the following

LHR 747's 386 seats x 5 = 1930

A340-600. 306 seats x 13 = 3978

A340-300 265 seats x 2 = 530

A total of 6438 seats for the planes about to be replaced by the 787-9 264 seats x 21 = 5544

A reduction of 894 seats or nearly 14%

Wow. Fewer rewards by far

David

(It's probably a bigger worry if there was that slack in the planning during peak times)

David wrote:

slinky09 wrote:
But, what a downsizing for VS, from a fleet of 747s and 346s with 300+ seats to a largest size of 264 seats. It means fewer miles rewards for sure,

What is VS actually going to do to grow I wonder?

If you take the seat numbers off planespotters.net you get the following

LHR 747's 386 seats x 5 = 1930

A340-600. 306 seats x 13 = 3978

A340-300 265 seats x 2 = 530

A total of 6438 seats for the planes about to be replaced by the 787-9 264 seats x 21 = 5544

A reduction of 894 seats or nearly 14%

Wow. Fewer rewards by far

David

(It's probably a bigger worry if there was that slack in the planning during peak times)

This does bring, well to myself anyway, a bigger question.
If reward seats are going to be even harder to get then what are VS going to bring to the table to keep flyers loyal? After all reward seat are the biggest single factor in loyalty programs that I can see.....

Didn't Sir Richard suggest in an interview recently that some of the on-order 787-9s could be swapped for larger 787-10s?

gumshoe wrote:Didn't Sir Richard suggest in an interview recently that some of the on-order 787-9s could be swapped for larger 787-10s?

Yes and my thought is VS could be using that as a bargaining chip to get Airbus to convert the A380 deposits into A350-900/A350-1000 orders. The A350 is bigger than the 787 and its test program is going very smoothly.

SRB said that any 787-10 orders are likely to be additional to the 16 already ordered 787-9s.

RIP A-zone. Sooner than I expected. I must get a few more trips in before the cull :-(

Silver Surfer wrote:SRB said that any 787-10 orders are likely to be additional to the 16 already ordered 787-9s.

I'd be hopeful that the loss of the big capacity planes are at some point made up for with increased frequencies using the newer, smaller ones, e.g. additional JFK services or double daily to SFO. But I guess that depends on having enough planes and LHR slots.

Indeed, I can't logically see how VS can grow - they'll move to being a profitable but near at capacity carrier.

I still can't see how the B&S routes are viable on a 787-9 - they'll need something bigger to replace the packed holiday Orlando route in particular, or go to 3 a day from LGW?

starquake wrote:
I still can't see how the B&S routes are viable on a 787-9 - they'll need something bigger to replace the packed holiday Orlando route in particular, or go to 3 a day from LGW?

ISTBC but the LGW 747 leases were extended up to (near enough) 2020 or beyond given the recent cabin updates.

Another aircraft order will be needed for LGW. I wouldn't be surprised to see 787-10's or 350's.

I'd have thought LGW would need either the A350-1000 or perhaps B777X

This is sad news, I have a MIA flight booked in late September, hoping to get into the A zone for the first (and what now looks like being the last) time.

Now I really hope we get one of the 747's, not the A330 that appears to have been doing a lot of the VS005 trips.

And my VS45 next month has just been switched to an A346! Booo!

Need to get more A zone flights in before it is too late!!

Really sad but inevitable.

I will probably look to find an opportunity for an LHR 747 UC trip during next year in thehope of saying good bye to the beloved 747's.

Somehow, I associate the 747 very strongly with VS, or perhaps that should be the other way around, it will be a sad day indeed - mind you, at least the LGW ones will be around for a while.

Although I fly "the dark side" these days, and find myself on B777's most of the time which are great planes in their own right, I still miss the 747's. (I was really pleased when I found myself in CW on the upper deck of a 747 back from JFK last year - that was fantastic).

Ohwell, that's progress -- isn't it?!