Originally Posted by johan rebel
I read
here (in Dutch) that KL has canceled orders for two A330s, added orders for two 777s and converted a 74M to 744 configuration.
First I hear about it. Can anybody confirm?
Off topic, but according to the same article KL is experiencing a shortage of FAs.
Johan
The conversion of one of the B74Es to a B744 might very well be going on as we speak. The summer schedule for the B747 fleet is not packed at all, and can easily be operated by 20 frames, out of a total of 22 available. Yet, over the past 3 weeks technical problems on active airframes have led repeatedly to the delay of evening departures (KL837 to SIN, KL809 to KUL and CGK) until the next day because of the lack of available aircraft, although at least 2 aircraft were not being used at any of those times.
As such, I wouldn't be surprised at all if a B74E conversion is currently going on, and if the aircraft would be rolled out with the new C-class at the same time.
The reduction of the A332 orders comes as a surprise, even more so because the winter schedule does not contain anymore B763 flights from March onward, with most of the remaining flights replaced by A332s. Meanwhile PH-AOE is set to arrive next month with the next three frames AOF/H/I schedules to join in December, February and March respectively. Another B772 (PH-BQO) should arrive in January.
Possibly, the cancellation of A332 frames mentioned in the article relates to any airframes beyond the 8 currently in the fleet or planned to join.
All in all, most if not all of KLM's latest moves with regard to the longhaul fleet seems to indicate the urgent need for extra seats to be made available. First there was the conversion of existing B772 orders into B773s. Add to that the conversion of a B74E into a B744 and the cancellation of A332 orders in favor of more triple sevens and we are talking about a substantial increase in available seats.
The pursuit of additional seats does not come as a surprise at all. Several markets are in dire need of extra seat capacity. HKG, LAX and KUL -to name a few- are all mainly B74E stations which could easily fill a B744 a couple of days a week and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see some extra seats being funeled to these stations in the near future.