Originally Posted by
briguychau
If the assignments don't change, in order to make those flights it'd have to either depart QPG for ICN in the next couple of hours, or alternatively they can fly QPG-ICN (a 6.5-hour flight) the morning of Dec 21, departing at most 17 hours from now, and have an alternate crew doing the ICN-YVR leg. When Fin 931 ferried HKG-ICN-YVR earlier this month there was a 25 hour layover at ICN.
They've also been doing the ~25-hour layovers at ICN or NRT on the way over to Asia for the refurbs. I don't think YVR is a pilot base for the 333s, so even if they deadhead a crew over, that crew probably has a rest time required at ICN/NRT, and of course they have to deadhead the crew from the first leg home. I think it quickly overwhelms the savings from a day worth of parking fees at ICN/NRT, which is why they've been doing it this way.
For poops and giggles, I tried to figure out the cost of parking at ICN. I couldn't find anything more recent than
this 2016 fee guide, so it might be a bit higher, but probably in the ballpark. Assuming:
- AC's 333s have the highest MTOW of 233t (it may be lower)
- 26 hours of parking (52 units of 30 minutes)
I come up with about 1.3 million won, or a paltry C$1,300 or so, to park a 333 at ICN for these layovers. If that's anywhere near the current cost, no wonder they want to have the same crew operate the flight rather than deadhead.
Okay, since I really went down the rabbit hole, looks like
NRT is even cheaper at <C$900 (96K JPY) for 26 hours of parking for a 233t 333.
Edit to add: AC2324 on the 21st is now showing as cancelled. So I don't think it's flying YUL-BOG on the 21st.