Air-born

Hi,
just looking at some photos of Virgins planes and i was thinking do you think Virgins Air-born system could put people off in the future like the picture of Cosmic Girl Airborn December 2001 shes now 5 in 2006 but in 2011 shes 10 but in 2016 shes 15, the hours these planes put in thats getting on , sitting there looking out at the plane in the terminal working out how old it is wwwwwoooooowwww.

You go with anyone else say First choice the 757 you are getting on could be 15 years old, any you would'nt have a clue.

Virgins is young now but will he keep it young?

regards

Dave:)

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Edit by mod to shorten link......Nick

Isn't it one of the USPs of Virgin that SRB promises to keep a young fleet? [:?]

[Nottingham Nick]

I don't think many people will take the trouble to research things like this in advance. The first time they will see this is when they arrive at the airport.

Far more important is the 'spin' that goes into the brochures and getting people to buy the holidays / flights.

Nick

[Scrooge]

As someone that flys alot im always more concerned with a fleets ave number of cycles then the flight hours.

As VS's fleet all fly longhaul the number of cycles for each aircraft is not that high.

I have a feeling VS will quietly remove them as the aircraft "come of age", but that they will still have them on new aircraft.

[preiffer]

Given the high % of leased aircraft in the fleet (and assuming these are on either 12 month in/out notice periods, or fixed terms), surely the fleet will naturally refresh as they secure new leases?

Originally posted by preiffer
Given the high % of leased aircraft in the fleet (and assuming these are on either 12 month in/out notice periods, or fixed terms), surely the fleet will naturally refresh as they secure new leases?

Are any of the old gals leased? GVFAB? GVBIG?

If so, those have been here a while. I wonder if there's a place you can find out how long they are leased for. But if it's anything like leasing cars, after a certain ammount of time leasing you simply end up buying the thing if you don't return it.

All the 747's that end Q8 are leased. They are VFAB, VHOT, VBIG and maybe VAST.

Anybody else noticed that all aircraft that were 'air-born' before 2001 dont have the dates on the front? I've always assumed that because they are so old it might put people off so VS didnt put the stickers on. So id imagine that the air born stickers will be taken off as the planes get older.

[HighFlyer]

I think if many people realised the true age of a lot of other airlines aircraft, they would breathe a sigh of relief with VS's fleet! There are many, many aircraft in service that exceed 30 years in service, some, over 50 years.

All i can see now is that old aircraft that TCD used for their MCO run! LOL

The majority of passengers do not realise that with correct maintenance, there is nothing dangerous in a 20 year old plane.

Thanks,
Sarah

What prompted my discussion was I saw a forum on airliners.net that after september 11th most airlines sorted themselves out and got rid of all the older planes 747-100/200's for example, and they were stored in the desert.

A few years later poeple like Travel City Direct and co pulled them out of the desert and sent them on there way again[:0]these aircraft are nearly 20years old [:0]and they fly in and out of Manchester every day, there are always problems and delays people are always complaining on Dibb.

Just trying to think how old island lady was before so went to russia but she was well looked after and she had ODYSSEY (thats another topic [:?])

Dave

Originally posted by hairy114
All the 747's that end Q8 are leased. They are VFAB, VHOT, VBIG and maybe VAST.

Anybody else noticed that all aircraft that were 'air-born' before 2001 dont have the dates on the front? I've always assumed that because they are so old it might put people off so VS didnt put the stickers on. So id imagine that the air born stickers will be taken off as the planes get older.

I'm not sure if that's entirely correct. Why would an aircraft be leased for 12 years? Just because it ends in Q8 doesn't necessarily mean it's still leased, they just don't change the customer number. I think at least the two oldest 747s are probably owned now.

Also, the dates aren't on the older aircraft because they only got implimented with the arrival of the A340-600 in 2002. But yes, the age of the older 747s and 340s probably does have a factor as well.

Surely after 10 years, let alone 20 or 30, most of any plane would have newer parts. What's more important than the age is the quality of care and attention that it has been given. [:I]

TTFN

Paul

I'm sure VS won't want aircraft that are 20+ years old around for a long time and will probably replace them as time wears on. Having said that, the -200s were around for a while and even the A343s are getting long-in-the-tooth.

Cheers,
VS045

It seems quite funny that when I was in Junior school (10yrs) the senior girls (16yrs) seemed old... then as I grew old and turned 16 the female university grads seemed old.... and now im in my 30s any ladies in their 40s are older.... but thankfully im not a sicko wanting to fly 16 year olds... so does age matter? nothing that a coat of war paint and oil of ulay cant fix... in fact often like wine age makes things better....you always have more problems with new cars than run in secondhand cards. most of the aircraft that I have experienced problems with (excluding the old retired B742s) are the 346s not the 747s

slightly away from the title... but the point is the same

[Nottingham Nick]

LOL :D

Thanks for that, milehigh... you have made me feel REALLY old now. [8D]

[honey lamb]

And I feel positively geriatric [:(][:#][:(][:#][:(]