Originally Posted by
FBWFTW
Hit the nail on the head as usual ;-)
On my recent trip-I had some HA execs on my flight from JFK and I got a chance to speak to a few of them-they seemed at the time (right after investor day where the topic was first mentioned) to be of the mind that:
A. JFK has been a pretty successful flight for the company in terms of being able to reach the east coast and keep the numbers in the right spot-and
B: they are definitely planning on looking at other potential East Coast destinations further down the line when the new Airbus orders (A321Neo and later A330-800Neo) begin to be delivered.
On a side note-I've been wondering since this thread started which routes HA might use the A330-800's on. For instance-will they use them on the longest routes for the fuel like JFK/PEK? Or will they be returning some of the older leased A332's as the A338's come in?
If I had to guess, the 330-800neo's could be used in 2 directions. If there is still opportunity to grow and can extend the early 330-200 leases, they'll fly them side by side deploying the -800neo's on the longest routes like PEK and maybe new ones like MEL, HKG, PVG. I'm not sure that JFK has any limitations with the current -200 being used. If demand softens or some other uncontrollable issue is at hand at that time, HA can always return the planes and take on the -800neo's in a bid to increase efficiency while maintaining capacity. The point is, that they've built in flexibility into the fleet and can take the airline in different directions at that time. It's likely too far down the road to have concrete plans.