I can't wait for the aircraft order so everyone on this forum can "finish" at the same time. The ecstasy of it will be amazing....

Ol David Puddy, will lose it

I know this is meant to be a laugh, but the vagueness of this “article” has spurred this rumor across all the various chat groups.

Here’s why the 787 won’t work:

*Wide body gates are expensive.
*Ground handling can barely handle turning a narrow body, now we need cargo container lifts, large tugs, etc.
*The 787 need 3 GPUs to not shed, can be done with 2 minimum.
*High density seating would need a total overhaul in boarding process
*The “show up and go” mentality doesn’t work for long haul/etops/nat track/etc
*The chaser FA would be a nightmare with 8 doors (2 crews and 2 chasers maybe?)
*Depending on the length of the stage, 8-9 hours or more you need 1.5-2 planes per route to provide a daily service. That’s half a billion to open a longer destination (i.e. Rio/Buenos Aires). We could fly them domestic but do the added infrastructure costs make it worthwhile?

Sure these issues can be overcome, but it’s migrating to a whole other operating model that doesn’t jive with how we do it now.

..................

This is a good read. Says a few interesting things.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/spirit-airlines-offer-comfier-seats-003009284.html

It’s difficult to sleep at night I am so excited... ;)

Would not surprise me. Boeing is desperate and complete fleet swaps are not unheard of this year - Vueling will swap 120 Airbuses for MAX 8s and 10s over the next few years. I still think a combo order for A321 NEOS and A220-300s would be ideal... I guess time will tell...

Boeing is not desperate.... they have delayed deliveries....

When the FINAL accident analysis comes out- and the blame is, at WORST, shared.... all those “delayed” orders will be demanded ASAP...

Just a small bump in the road.

It's more than a bump. Word is it's really bad. Nothing like having the employee parking lot turned into aircraft storage. If you would have told someone this was going to happen 12 months ago they would have said no way.

They’ve delivered what? A couple of hundred Max’s at this point? Yeah, they’ve got another 5300 on order. This is a bump in the road. A costly, well publicized bump, but a bump nonetheless.

If we get Boeing’s it won’t be a fleet swap...

I think a fleet swap was the suggested prerequisite for the great deal on the MAX’s unless you’re suggesting an Airbus order and Spirit taking the leap to wide bodies.

People at HQ said a fleet swap is very unlikely. If they order Boeing it’ll be a dual fleet.

That probably makes the least sense for all involved unless it’s a radically different tube than the 320 family.

This place can’t handle wide bodies. They will try to have us show up and go after having us look at a read file on NAT and ETOPS.

Christ. I can hear JYRO’s voice. “Give them the online training for Atlantic crossings, it’s just flying across water!”

All we’re doing is putting more gas in, I don’t see the problem.

LMFAO!! Your comment is harsh but very true!! ;)

Read your OB’s lately? Hint it’s about flying over water.

Yeah, there’s not a ton of difference procedurally from NAT tracks and WATRS airspace.

"He said the entire fleet probably won’t have Wi-Fi until 2021."

Is that the interesting part?😂

monumental press release!

🙄

Wear your black and yellows.

Meh. WATRS airspace. So we can go direct SJU-BWI without having to hug the coast as if we were flying a Cessna Bugsmasher...

Not really a precursor to a wide body order.

That wasn’t the implication.

Sure read like one.

No it didn’t. He was responding to the email/iPad training comments that would be required for NAT/ETOPS reminding people that we already do that for WATRS airspace. Which, as I alluded, isn’t very different operationally from NAT Ops.

At this point anything is possible. We have oceanic flight planning on Jepps now. The aircraft order is imminent and if it will make money, Atlantic or NOPAC, we will do it.

Okey dokey.

I’ll ask my trusty FLL van driver what he has heard. He knows all the deets!

Oceanic flight planning is for new aircraft delivery purpose.

Uh ok. So you do know Spirit has been getting new Airbuses that have been delivered by Spirit pilots from Hamburg since like 2003-2004, right?

I’m sure nothing more to the OB than clarifying use of the WATRS routes for current flights between EWR, PHL, and BWI and the Caribbean.

Pretty sure Mngmt Pilots (spirit pilots) have flown them over here as well..

It's not the same. When I picked up new aircraft and flew them back to the USA the RVSM approval comes from the FISDO so you have to stay above the RVSM and you aren't flying into the tracks so it's not the same. It's called flying a random route. You end up flying a little further north and you don't have a wet foot print. Plus we don't have CPDLC and that's required to fly into the tracks. The days of HF are gone, it was so busy and people stepping on each other for hours. SELCAL was a god send. Flying North Atlantic is like nothing else. The busiest 4 hours of your life.

CPDLC is on the way...

I used to have to fly above NAT/ RVSM regularly- (because the boss thought he was saving $$ not getting the airplanes RVSM certified..🙃🙃)

The “random route” clearance was something like cleared via the waypoints of “track A...” I wouldn’t say we were busy at all....
Yes, YEARS ago!

If you have to fly above the nats
you have no payload to make it worth while.

Just needs a good WiFi connect- oh...

Look at Scoot Airlines.... All A320 and 787’s. Didn’t their CEO say we are copying them😁

Good form sir...CPDLC hardware coming...implementation after the Armageddon