BA139/138 rotation [LHR-BOM-LHR] on 26th April - cancelled but flew anyway
 

BA shows that BA139 on 26th April and inbound BA138 on 27th April were cancelled. However, FR24 shows the flight departing and returning to LHR, so presumably the plane flew without passengers. Anyone know why this is? I'm thinking maybe to carry PPE/aid to India? I'm interested because I'm trying to figure out how to get some family back from India and I'm just trying to spot patterns/reasons for all these random cancellations across all the airlines.

A large part of the fleet is routinely operating cargo-only flights to many destinations every day.

For an overview: http://thebasource.com/?s=cargo&et_p...lude_posts=yes

Indeed, for example, even when JFK was operating 2x daily last summer, there was a third daily cargo only 777. Strangely they posted it on the T7 departure board and at the gate which caused a bit of confusion as it was 5 minutes after one of the passenger flights.

I can see passenger carrying flights from Mumbai on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Cargo both ways.

Indeed, these two specific flights can be seen in the BA Source's list:

• British Airways B777-300ER G-STBO Operates Mumbai Cargo Sectors. | The BA Source
• British Airways B777-300ER G-STBO Operates Mumbai Cargo Sector. | The BA Source

When used for cargo only is it just the hold only or do the seats get filled with cargo (weighing no more than the average passenger)?

Hi,

Probably depends on the cargo being carried I would have thought . Early on in the pandemic saw pictures of boxes in the pax seats and in the overhead lockers ( Ppe maybe?)

Regards

Tbs

There are two BA 777 aircraft that have had all seats removed aft of D2... these are now fitted with straps to secure (certain lightweight) boxes to the floor. Early on in the pandemic it is true that boxes of masks, etc., were loaded onto passenger seats and in overhead lockers, but this is very labour-intensive (not to mention limited in what can be carried) and consequently doesn’t happen very often. Therefore the vast majority of freighter flights currently being operated by BA are only using the cargo hold, not the passenger cabin. Says a lot about supply and demand (for both passenger and cargo) that these can make enough money to be viable.

Air freight from the US is about 500% more expensive than 15 months ago. Similar increase for shipping containers from the far east. The air demand is because of shipping delays. The shipping increase is partly through excessive demand, partly a shortage of containers and partly Covid restricting capacity in ports, particularly Felixtowe.

They forgot to tell the pilot? :D