yyz_atc_qq

I just came back from PVG and after travelling on the A345 was told by the CSD that the A345 is almost done with AC. The CSD told me that one of the aircraft is leaving around the middle of Sept, and the other at the end of Sept.

Perhaps it's a good time to start reminiscing about the good/bad experiences we've had with this aircraft.

tcook052

Paging why fly...

DanJ

Along the lines of this thread at the NW forum, maybe all those people all misty over the deaprture of this fine aircraft should look at a farewell charter LOL.

Academic

AC 856 to LHR on September 19th, which I'm currently booked on, is a 345. It doesn't look like it's doing any other LHR runs around that time.

Sebring

The bottom line seems to be that AC is accelerating all A-340s out of the fleet. Everything will be 777 or 767 by the start of the next summer schedule, if not sooner. I have even heard tell that they might all be out by Feb.

LeSabre74

Rather than accelerating the A340 departure, they should keep them around so they can accelerate the XM project.

wali

Why don't they keep 2 around for the 1 or nonstop DEL flights?
They should convert them to all Economy seats.
Can't wait for the 787's!!!
Isn't AC losing business at present on that route?


wali

yyz_atc_qq

I would say yes... AC is losing money on the route because they have dropped the route. They used to do YYZ-DEL n/s (occasional tech in ARN), and more recently YYZ-ZRH-DEL but now it's just YYZ-ZRH and then code share with LX.

Sebring

Generally speaking it is not good economics to run a 343 in place of a 767 unless you have a situation where the 767 is too small for the route. During the winter schedule, there are few if any such opportunities.

There are only so many maintenance slots available for the XM work. I know AC has looked around the world for shops that could do this work, but there are a lot of airlines upgrading their cabin products these days and few such slots available. I believe ACTS might be able to handle two at a time, max. That's what we are likely to see this winter.

Also, the fewer 343s you have around, the harder it is to maintain a semblance of schedule integrity. We saw this with the 744 combis and the 345s. If one goes crapper, it's particularly hard to find a suitable substitute.

Shareholder

Why bother? This forum is littered with threads started because of this less than successful airplane. Do we need to relive the horrors of this particular mistake?

The only good thing that can be said about it is that AC only took delivery of two, realized it had blundered on the new J seats...went into bankruptcy protection and was thus able to cancel the seat order and look for better alternatives.

Shareholder

AC lost money every time it tried to fly any route to India, so it is best left off the route map completely. There is no way a NAmerican carrier can compete and make money on this route, particularly now with competition from JET. Margins are too thin and ethnic travel too cut throat for a company like AC to justify. Fure it's a huge market, but not worth it for AC. It gets better returns from that other Asian megalith!

Shareholder

Which explains why it shut down the YVR 767 base?!

wali

I agree with SH.
I just thought that some of the AC management might see some interest in DEL flights and take another look at them!


wali

Sebring

As I have written before, YVR was downsized to help sell ACTS. From ACE's perspective - not Air Canada's - this was good business sense because when 767 XM is done, ACTS' new owners would have been stuck with getting rid of large numbers of employees. This would have deferred the hit on morale to the new owners. ACE acted in its own, immediate self-interest. In this case, it was to the detriment of AC. That's why it is increasingly important to understand each ACE company as a different entity with different and occasionally conflictual concerns. It would have been nice for AC if an XM line had been established in YVR. I bet AC would have been supportive because it doesn't matter to it whether it pays an entity in Vancouver or in Hong Kong to do the work.

LeSabre74

You and I will agree to disagree on this one. AC is still ACTS biggest customer. The painfully slow progress on the XM project not only reflects badly on Air Canada, but puts them at a competitive disadvantage as well. And as someone pointed out earlier, many airlines are refurbing aircraft, so any advantage AC had when they were amongst the first to announce this is long since dissipated. It would be interesting to compare how long it is taking every airline doing this kind of refurb to do one a/c.

Indeed, upon reflection your argument could be seen as one big indictment against ACE's strategy of "unlocking shareholder value". It certainly isn't helping the core business.