BA Fleet Status
 

I realise there are a ton of BA fleet topics scattered around the forum, but I thought a dedicated thread on where BA's fleet are currently located and whether they are active or stored might be of interest to some on here, at least until the majority of the fleet is back in service.

I will create a wiki at the top of this thread so aircraft movements can be tracked and would encourage people to edit it as they note updates (there are a lot of movements in the short-haul fleet between LHR-LGW at present as they try to rotate aircraft), while BCN is the latest storage airport being used by BA for the next few months.

To help keep the thread active and up to date please find related links:
BA Fleet Deliveries & Retirements https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...tirements.html
Boeing 777 Club Suites: Route Info and updates https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...o-updates.html

Prospero - If you wish I am happy to collaborate on breaking out each fleet into the sub-types and we can add pictures from some of your other threads, but opted to try and keep it simple initially and get feedback on how people would like it to be displayed.

Hopefully some find this thread useful!

Pilot37

LEC is due back from TEV on Tuesday.

Probably not exactly what you are trying to do, but I have some info on aircraft last seen/last flights on https://speedbird.online/fleet.php

Many thanks LCY8737 - this is a fantastic resource you are maintaining!
It will definitely help with looking at last flights of the stored aircraft!

Pilot37

Pilot37 and I have been updating the A380 wikipost from time to time: BA 388 locations and maintenance movements. I usually check the last flight via flightaware.com - but then I am mostly just looking to see whether the stored/maintenance aircraft have moved since I last looked.

As we predicted elsewhere, VIIW should depart TEV on Friday leaving no current BA aircraft there.

G-XLEC is indeed now on it's way back to LHR - there was an RTO (not sure if a test or a problem) yesterday at TEV, but she has made it out 420 days after her last flight. I would assume, like G-XLEB, she will be flown at under 30K due to the gear remaining down for the journey back to LHR?

Pilot37

She's at 28,000 feet (I assume it's actually FL280) and a ground speed of about 340 knots.

Yes, gear down like the others as far as I am aware.

G-VIIW has indeed just left TEV bound for AUH as BA9174, so no more BA aircraft at TEV but still a bit to go before the majority of the fleet is back in service!

Pilot37

On it's way to AUH now at 40,000 ft. Out of interest, I note from the thread about the 380s that they fly out of storage at max 28000 then do a gear swing back at base. Why would the 777 not do the same?

Because a 777 is not an A380? Totally different aircraft, maintenance procedures etc.

The number of stored A320 family jets is striking. 66 out of a fleet of 140. Some of these might be in maintenance etc but the point remains.

It shows just how far short haul has to recover.

To be fair it is the quietest time of a normal year, I would imagine that number would be a lot lower if all else were equal and it was August.

Somebody with far greater knowledge will be along to advise I’m sure, but two opinions:

1) The last flight by G-VIIW was Apr’21 vs Dec’20 for the A380 - so if the plane cycles the gear within a specific time limit (less then 1yr for example) it is okay. In my view however that time span is still a bit too long - so I wouldn’t think this is correct
2) TEV has the ability to perform a gear swing on a B777, but the A380 is just too large and rare an aircraft for them to invest in the jacks necessary for such a large operation - so BA flies the plane with the gear down and does it back at base.
3) Some completely other reason!

Pilot37