At 06:20 AM 12/10/2003, you wrote:
>My apologies, Liam. I was referring to the non-stop from Singapore to Los
>Angeles that is slated to begin next year (Airbus 340-500), not the A380
>for which no US airport seems ready for.
>
>In February 2004, they begin the SIN/LAX run, followed by SIN/NYC in August
>2004. So the aircraft will be on the ground there for over nine hours. I
>was just wondering if they could fly it somewhere else and have it back
>ready for the SIN/LAX leg.
>
>Regards
When looking at "on the ground" time, keep in mind that you actually
consume a fair bit
of time turning a long haul international widebody, and you have to account
for that when
looking at scheduling. I don't know how long it takes SQ to turn that
flight, but I'd bet they
burn several hours from wheels on runway inbound, to ready to board
passengers outbound.
(They then need a chunk of time to go from gate to number-one for takeoff.)
Look at it. (it gets scary)
Activity Total Elapsed
Wheels hit runway: 0:00
Taxi and unload 0:30 0:30
Turn aircraft for next segment 1:00 1:30
Load pax :30 2:00
Taxi and takeoff :30 2:30
So, assuming a 1 hour turn (which I think is optimistic) you've got 6:30 of
actual down time.
If it's a two hour turn, it is 5:30.
Now add in a segment.
Activity Total Elapsed
Wheels touch runway: 0:00
Taxi and unload 0:30 0:30
Turn aircraft for next segment 1:00 1:30
Load pax :30 2:00
Taxi and takeoff :30 2:30
Fly segment X 2:30+X
Wheels touch runway 0:00 2:30+X
Taxi and unload 0:30 3:00+X
Turn aircraft for next segment 1:00 4:00+X
Load pax :30 4:30+X
Taxi and take off :30 5:00+X
Fly segment X 5:00+2X
Wheels touch runway 0:00 5:00+2X
Taxi and unload 0:30 5:30+2X
Turn aircraft for next segment 1:00 6:30+2X
Load pax :30 7:00+2X
Taxi and take off :30 7:30+2X
So, that's 9 hours, minus 7.5 hours. 2.5 hours for both legs of flying, or
1.25 for each leg, with no slop time at all. Now, I'm probably being a little
pessimistic about how long the taxi in, taxi out times run, but I'm not
sure. It sure takes 1/2 hour at JFK outbound, all the time, and often 10-15
minutes inbound. The killer here, is the time it takes to turn the aircraft
and get in/out of airports. Of course, making it worse, you spend a
chunk of your flying time getting up to altitude and pointed where you
want to go, and another, even bigger chunk slowing down entering pattern
and getting onto the ground.
Note that we're not going to get Southwest quick turns out of this airplane,
especially after/before the long haul segments. After a long haul international
flight, the plane is going to be a mess. People nest down and trash and
mess accumulates. You've also got to pull off a pile of food service carts,
and load an equally big pile before you head out again. You ought to be able
to do much better on the short segments. Just snacks and drinks.
So, food for thought. Even if you can skin the various steps by a fair bit, you
still don't get too much time for actually flying legs. You also need to
look at
your schedule risk. How often is the plane late inbound? Where does the plane
have to go, after the return leg to Singapore? If you blow your schedule during
the short haul hop, how much of a mess do you make?
- David