Originally Posted by
milehighflyer
Seems strange for an airline to let an aircraft sit that long, but obviously it must make financial sense otherwise DL would change around the schedules or routes.
I'd love to see them use it for a quick hub-to-hub RT within that 22 hours. Unfortunately I bet even a full 747, with only domestic ticket fares, would barely cover the cost of operation (fuel, pilots, FAs).
It is probably not the same planes doing ATL-NRT and NRT-ATL. My guess is the 744s rotate through the schedule so each day a different one lands in ATL, allowing 22 hours at TechOps for periodic maintenance, inspections, etc.
I think there are 16 744s and historically 8 routes. It may be fewer routes due to the refurbishments. But at maximum capacity, it means every 8 days a 744 could spend almost a full day at TechOps.