A340-600 and Suites rollout

It seems that, with only two aircraft fitted with the Suites, the rollout of them is a bit delayed, it has been said on here many times.

Does anyone know when the A340-600 will be upgraded with the Suites, and what aircraft will that be? When will the LHR aircraft be completed and when willl the LGW aircraft be started and completed.

Finally, if you have tried the Suite, is it excellent, or do you wish J2000 had been retained.

Thanks very much for the info.

Also, does anyone know when ALL A340-300 aircraft will be retired or sold. Thanks again!

[RichardMannion]

Only a few questions here then :

The A340-600? Surely you mean plural as there is more than one 600 in the fleet! They are likely to be upgraded over the next year, alogn with the other LHR planes, then VS will move on to the LGW planes. All dates and rollout lans can change at anytime, its not a quick or cheap process to rollout the upgrades (inc UCS) to the fleet.

I've sat in the new UCS a few times but not done a flight yet in them, thats in a couple of months when I come back from SFO.

As for retiring the 300 Airbuses - they planned to a while ago but business is good and you never know which routes might come next. You have to remember that these planes are not cheap, we are talking $mmm's here and there is the depreciation and capital write-off that has to be done. Virgin have invested £50m on the new UCS which is a bold challenge considering pre-tax profits were £15.7 million last year, a big turnaround from a £108.3 million loss the previous year. The longer they can keep the 300's running the more efficient financially they can be.

Thanks Richard for the reply. Sorry, I did mean plural for the A340-600, i suppose I meant the A346 fleet.

I suppose it is better for Virgin to retain the -300 version, if it is going to keep them with money- we don't want them to go bankrupt! Also, the Suites look great, but, whilst I haven't been on J2000, they look nice enough.

Thanks

[mitchja]

The A340-600 is more economical than the 300 series as it burns less fuel, can travel further and carries more passengers and more pay-load - also I would think it needs less maintainance.

A side to aviation often over-looked is cargo - this is a very importmant part of Virgin's (and all airlines) business as it's quite a money earner. I work for a local chemical company and sometimes am involved in shipping chemicals which often have to be sent as dangerous goods to destinations all over the world. It's cost's almost as much to ship a 1Kg sample of hazardous material as is it does for 1 economy ticket to the same destination. There are only a few types of hazandous chemicals/materials that are not aloud to go on passenger aircraft - you would be surprised what you could be sat on top of on your next flight!!!!

Sorry I know this is off-topic slightly!!!

Back on topic - I believe that the remaining A340-600 orders (4 left out of 10 in total I think) will replace to reamining 300 series this year - they would be silly not to roll them out without UC Suite on them.

James Mitchell

Silver Flying Club member since 2000