V-Flyer

I've just been thinking about the LHR B747-400's and the routes they'll be serving this winter.

Normally both JNB and LAX (VS7/8) are operated by the Jumbo in the winter, but this year both are A340-600 flights.

So where are the (3-4?) 744's that would normally ply these routes going instead?

Are some airbus routes changing to 744 routes?

Well, you never know, things change so JNB and LAX could turn into a jumbo at some point.

I don't know if you mean seasonal changes, but JFK and EWR get jumbos year round.

Well as you probably know, some have gone to MAN/LGW and i suppose the rest fly to EWR, JFK, SFO, MIA, BOS.

Cheers,
VS045

Originally posted by VS045
Well as you probably know, some have gone to MAN/LGW and i suppose the rest fly to EWR, JFK, SFO, MIA, BOS.

The thing is, is that B744's already do the EWR, JFK, SFO, MIA and BOS runs.

Normally they would do LAX and JNB too - so there must be some more 744 routes.....

I've spotted that for a couple of months CPT will be a B744 route - which partly answers it - but not completely.

Perhaps some of the 744 fleet are due to get their MOT's

Originally posted by Richard28
Perhaps some of the 744 fleet are due to get their MOT's

It's possible. Or paint.

It could be something like a D check - very heavy maint, where they pretty much strip the aircraft back to the airframe and put it back together again, or a full repaint, can easily take a month.

The LHR 744 fleet is run so tightly that with an aircraft out for MX for a month, there would be no slack in the system, so it would make sense to convert some of the 744 flying to Airbus for the duration of the MX period. It also ties up quite nicely with the low season in between Summer holls and the Xmas rush.

I noticed that G-VHOT had been away in Amsterdam for about a month across September and October, where KLM do the heavy maint on VS 744 fleet.

Go to http://www.klm-engineering-maintenance.com/ and click on "Boeing 747 D-check".

Cheers,
Mike