Originally Posted by
zeus2120
Looks like N77295, a GUM based 737, was ferried to Cleveland last week. Does anyone know if this is due to a routine cycling of aircraft into and out of the GUM fleet, or would it be for some type of maintenance? Surprised at the 8+ hour flight it took from GUM-HNL which is ~1.5 hours longer in duration than normal for the route. I'm amazed that it has the legs to make the westbound trip HNL-GUM if the eastbound was over 8 hours!
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N77295
I wonder if anyone I know knows anything. CLE is a 737 MX base so it could be maintenance... so that would make some sense (but IIRC is not equipped for cabin reconfiguration and I would think SFO or LAX would make more sense for a routine visit.)
I'm not seeing a GUM-CLE on flightaware, but it's most recent flight was CLE-CLE wich based on flight path looks like a pretty typical maintenance flight.
If it was strictly a MX ferry the legs don't surprise me... No cargo, only 3 crew members and 0 passengers make for a very light plane...not sure how much further you could push one (without considering favorable winds) winds but 1.5 hours over normal really isn't that much more flight time than normal 121 alternate rules require anyway (not sure if UA dispatches ferries as part 91 or 121--if part 91 the regs get a lot looser)