Originally Posted by rkkwan
Let's look at some specific ultra-longhaul routes in the world, flying niche aircrafts:
SQ has 5 A345s, running two daily roundtrips SIN-LAX/EWR. So, 4 flights a day, each about 18-19 hours long. That's 74 flight hours spread over 5 planes for about 15 hours each plane, each day in the air.
Thai has 3 A346s, running 4 weekly flights to JFK and 4 weekly flights to LAX. So, in a week it's 16 flights total, 17-18 hour each fligth. That's 280 hours per week, or 40 hours per day for 3 planes, or 13.3 hours each.
AC has 2 A345s, running one route YYZ-HKG daily. So, also, 15hr in the air each plane, each day.
[CX has 3 A346s, mainly for one route JFK-HKG, but they use the extra planes for other routes regularly, so hard to say how much time in the air actually.]
But an aircraft doesn't need maintenance after every roundtrip. Cleaning, catering, and fueling is all it needs. So, yes, a particular aircraft may only need about 2 hours on the ground for 19 hours in the air, for the longest routes like SIN-EWR, if they don't need to run on a regular schedule.
Interesting. Looking at the AC example it seems that a plane does not need a day off for maintenance. But then it would seem as if Singapore would be able to handle each route with only 2 planes. Kind of seems like they are wasting that fifth plane. Maybe it is essentially a backup.
Anybody know how a typical 9-10 hour us-europe flight is run. It seems to me like KL, BA, and AF would make very efficient use of their planes if they just fly IAH-EUROPE and turn around. They could cover the daily flight with one plane. Anybody know if this is what they actually do. If anybody flies a particular flight all the time, is it always one of two planes.
I know it seems stupid, but sometimes I'll plan "my airline". I need to know what kind of restrictions I have to work with.