DWFI

My understanding is a redeye eastbound as you both suggested but I believe it is 319 equipment.

taxicabnumber

I see it loaded now, A319 as you said. Surprised how early CLT-SJC is!

CLT-SJC: departs CLT 1810, arrives SJC 2040
SJC-CLT: departs SJC 2245, arrives CLT 0640

2 hours on the ground at SJC seems suboptimal unless they're planning on routing the planes PHX-SJC-CLT and CLT-SJC (overnight) - PHX. But even then, CLT-SJC could probably leave later...

sdsearch

Given that it's to CLT, can we presume that it's the LUS 319 (what SeatGuru calls V2, with no MCE but with a couple endless legroom exit row seats)?

The LUS 319 is obviously a slightly different model of A319 than the LAA 319, given that it has a different number of exit doors. So it will always be a little different, even after it's (presumably) updated for MCE someday.

FWAAA

I don't believe that the LUS A319s have a "different number of exit doors" compared to the LAA A319s. All have four full-sized doors plus two overwing hatch exits.

The LUS A319s will eventually have the same seating configuration as the LAA A319s but will not feature seatback AVOD.

nova08

Not sure if this has been mentioned but the LGA routes are all 2-3x weekly. Pretty low-risk given where oil is.

Fanjet

Why is it suboptimal? It's only a two-hour layover. And the aircraft is being utilized overnight as opposed to a typical RON of 6 or 8 hours. Plus, it is still available during the day to do another roundtrip from CLT; like to the Carribean, for example.

phlwookie

It's also an opportunity to absorb some delays that may have accumulated in the aircraft's schedule throughout the day, as opposed to, say, a scheduled 45-60 minute turn.

Fanjet

In fact, I would say this aircraft usage is going to be quite optimal, as it could see around 16 hours of flight time and only four airframe cycles within a 24-hour period.

FWAAA

I assume that the "suboptimal" characterization arose because of the somewhat leisurely two hour turn with the implication being that it would be more efficient if the flight departed CLT later in the evening and was scheduled for a 60 minute turn at SJC.

What taxicubnumber may not have considered is that with a banked hub, the departure time from CLT is somewhat fixed (so that it departs during that bank) and that any downtime occurs at the outstations. Under the pmAA MO of rolling hubs, planes often turned quickly at outstations but may have spent more time sitting in the hubs. With the banked hubs, planes will sit more often at the spokes.

Very good point. If there are evening departure delays at CLT or unexpected headwinds or accumulated rolling delays, the two hour turn at SJC increases the chances that the flight will arrive at CLT on-time, which is very important because this flight depends on successful connections at CLT.

taxicabnumber

Yep.

Fair point, seems reasonable.

DWFI

I think we can definitely assume LUS319 for now, yes.

sdsearch

Even if the extra overwing exit doors are a SeatGutu mistake, the LUS A319 seems to have a significantly different total number of rows than the LAA A319.

Recall also that that LAA got the A319 fairly recently, while the A319 was in the LUS fleet for quite a few years I think.

So is it not possible that the LUS A319 is a different "submodel" than than the AA A319? By submodel, I mean whatever the equivalent is in Airbus of a 737-400 vs 737-700 vs 737-800, etc.

And thus even if they divide it up into F/MCE/Y-, the exact number of seats in each of those may end up different on the LUS A319 than it is on the LAA A319? (And if the seats line up to the exit row differently, the exit row may still be configured differently on the LUS A319 than the LAA A139 even all after is finalized?)

ashill

I'm almost certain that the Airbus equivalent of 737-700 vs 737-800 is A319 vs A320. The A319, A320, and A321 are the "submodels" of the A320 class; there are no submodels of the A319.

Djokison

Ehm, not quite.

Seatguru shows exit rows, not the amount of exits. it's like on the LAA 757 (row 9/10). The LUS A319 has one overwing exit on either side just like pretty much every single other A319 (with exception of the few with 2 for high-capacity.)

AA has already started reconfiguring the A319s to the AA config. The rows are exactly the same. No AVOD, though (but hopefully that means no entertainment box under the seats either.)

DWFI

Technically there are submodels of the A32X series - A321-100 vs A321-200 for example. But the variations are tiny, there are nowhere near the degree of variance of the 737-700 vs 737-800. Additionally, there is only one A319 model - the A319-100.

Customers can choose to order their A319s in different configurations if they so wish. The A319 can have one or two overwing exits on each side, among other variations in galley configuration, etc.