Originally Posted by
choosethedrew
So if the A380 refit starts in September next year and the first F plane does indeed go into service in January 2026, as opposed to mid-2026, this would give a refit time of 5 months per plane? And is it going to one A380 at a time?
The plan I know of from this late summer/early autumn had the first 380 completing retrofit in September, with return into service at the end of that month/early October. This is 2025. This is clearly too early for First, which then means:
1. the plans have changed.
2. the first embodiment will not include F.
Point 2 would rhyme with what I was told by a supplier, ie that the maintenance plan had a 380 going through a heavy check in Q2 2025 and that the decision was to fit it out with everything but F, because otherwise it’s be years before it could come back again.
Now, I don’t have a mean to know if that the case still, but in the future we might have some tips about it, especially if the LOPA for F sees it still being where it is now.
Originally Posted by
lost_in_translation
In F though is the point, plenty of value sensitive people do this, but those 20+ feeder flights a day (which have material O&D demand too) aren't filled with people connecting to LH/AF F on cash tickets.
It goes without saying that, by virtue of being smaller, the proportion of F class passengers on a feeder flight will be smaller. But people flying F do transfers too. As an example, today’s BA57 has 4 transfers from Europe, 6 on the 207. All in F.