V-Flyer

Anyone got any inside info as to the ongoing problems with the VS43?

We know there was a 33 hour delay a week ago, but again yesterday it was canceled, people reporting they've had to wait 25 hours (twitter) since yesterday (Sat). A friend of mine is waiting for yesterday's flight to depart and it's already delayed by 4 hours again today.

Is VS43 not the flight code..? What metal are they using, or not as the case may be..?

Yesterday was Ladybird, today is Hotlips.

Route just seems plagued with issues.

G-VAST went tech yesterday and was delayed overnight. It seems no spare capacity to operate the flight yesterday. Today's VS43 has been delayed awaiting G-VLIP as the allocated aircraft, which left LGW three hours late for MCO yesterday and has struggled to crawl back some lost time.

Hopefully things back on track soon.

Jon

Yesterday's VS43 finally departed at 12:50 today as VS1043 using G-VAST. Today's 43 is delayed 3.5 hours as VS16 (G-VLIP) late in from MCO.

Indeed G-VAST operating as VS1043 departed LGW at 1323 today (operating yesterday's VS43) and is due into LAS at 1457 local time.

At least the passengers are on their way finally.

horburyflyer wrote:G-VAST went tech yesterday and was delayed overnight. It seems no spare capacity to operate the flight yesterday. Today's VS43 has been delayed awaiting G-VLIP as the allocated aircraft, which left LGW three hours late for MCO yesterday and has struggled to crawl back some lost time.

Hopefully things back on track soon.

Jon

I suppose they could have used VSUN, is that still stored serviceable??

I think the fleet is quite stretched, just has a look, I think VGEM is the only a/c not booked on a flight tonight, apart from VHOT under overhaul.

It's delayed 3hr 10min today, reason - mechanical. I'm not up to speed with the compensation side. Does that mean we are due something back via a claim?

Always Chilled wrote:It's delayed 3hr 10min today, reason - mechanical. I'm not up to speed with the compensation side. Does that mean we are due something back via a claim?

Is that arrival or departure time?

It matters as the regulation is based on scheduled arrival time compared to actual arrival (doors opened).

Depends if it's more than 3 hours delayed when you land at your destination

Ok, I understand now. Well the latest we were told was a 14:30 departure time from the 11:20 original. So on hearing it's 3hrs for arrival time, I'm sure the front enders will be able to make a little up on route.

Cheers

It's delayed today as the aircraft operating today's VS43 (G-VAST) is late inbound from Las Vegas, expected 12:02

EDIT: Also just noticed that VROM must be stuck at LAS as it's not due back at Gatwick until tomorrow morning when should have departed LAS last night & arrived LGW 10:25 this morning

What a shambles. As mentioned above, the LGW fleet seems very stretched indeed. Doesn't seem like there are any contingency plans with regards to spare aircraft when things go tits up. Is the LGW fleet the oldest?

The problem with the LGW fleet is there is very little room for manouevre when something goes wrong. All the incoming flights are scheduled to arrive between 6am and 10am and depart between 9am and 1pm so it's a tight turnaround and if a flight's late it has a domino effect on the week's schedule. It's a different story at LHR where the turnaround times tend to be longer and the larger fleet means it's easier to swap aircraft to accommodate delays.

getinjonathan wrote: Is the LGW fleet the oldest?

I do not think so. I think it is the case that the LGW / MAN fleet of 747 is actually newer than the LHR fleet, and the other LGW / MAN aircraft are the beloved (is that the word?) A330 which are recent acquisitions.

getinjonathan wrote: Is the LGW fleet the oldest?

The LGW/MAN/GLA 747's were delivered in 2001 with some known as 'The Alitalia 5 (VS picked up the order when Alitalia went bust and why the signage is in English and Italian) . They were all given a complete internal refit a couple of years ago.

No airline has lots of aircraft just sitting around awaiting a flight to go tech. They don't earn their keep sitting idle. Despite their size, airliners are relatively fragile things and can be grounded by a 10p 'widget' breaking.

Things will only get worse until VS replace the 747 LHR fleet with suitably similar sized aircraft. Once the 747 leave LHR they won't be able to substitute LGW 747 with LHR aircraft as they have done in the past.

At least one LHR 747 is being reconfigured and moving to LGW.

These LGW stories aren't filling me with confidence for my flight to Cancun on May 5th. Is there a way of checking statistics for the flight such as how often its late etc?

Various websites are available - just search VS93 on Google.

Here's one: https://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/VIR93

Thats great thanks

Looks like they're retaining VBIG at LGW today to operate the 43 to LAS, she was set to return to LHR to operate the 19 to SFO but that's now cancelled.

Lets say VS wanted to get rid of all their 747s today with an equal capacity plane, what could they order? An A350?