Originally Posted by
Ldnn1
But wait... as I said above the aircraft *cannot* be turning in London. The departure time is 5 mins after arrival time. So either there are two aircraft devoted to just the PHX-LHR daily run and sitting at LHR for 23h55m, which seems ludicrous, or it’s doing a W with another AA TATL route. So which is it?
Originally Posted by
freeagent
The flight will likely mirror the current RDU-LHR service which does JFK-LHR-RDU-LHR-JFK. The "turn" would likely be in Phoenix for the aircraft. For example for the upcoming flight would have the aircraft originate from a 777 base (LAX,DFW,JFK) fly the LHR then fly to PHX, from PHX back to LHR, then back to a 777 base. Together the route for the aircraft would look like: DFW-LHR-PHX-LHR-DFW.
Originally Posted by
steve64
The PHX-LHR route can not be operated with a dedicated airframe. The plane would be arriving PHX every 2nd/3rd day in need of having its next A/B Check completed. This requires an overnight (or similar length) stay at a maint base.
The trip will most likely be flown the generic routing used for most of the TATL long hauls ... USA Maint Base --> Europe --> USA --> Europe --> USA Maint base.
There are obviously many variations, but that routing is very common.
FWIW ...
When I say "maint" here, I'm talking about scheduled maint. Obviously, line maint is done (or more likely recorded & set-up for "deferred maint") as a plane encounters issues wile "flying the line".
Narrow body (domestic/short haul intl) are typically released from maint on 3 day runs (typically, with one of the nights being on a red-eye), the end of that run being back at a maint base for the next A/B Check.
I see that since I started writing this post (during TV commercial breaks) , freeagent has replied, essentially saying the same.
Someone stated that the 772 going to PHX "could" be heading to some place after arrival, which is not feasible. Now, in LHR it is feasible that another and is very likely to have a different plane back to PHX. It's not hard to figure that part out.