GUM Changes.....
 

Expect to see UAL 777 take over all CAL 764 flying west of HNL in late October.

Also going to see a bunch of GUM based 737s flying routes that are currently being flown by UAL a/c intra-Asia (HKG-SIN, HKG-SGN, etc.) Right sizing equipment to the marketplace instead of flying empty widebodies around.

Should be interesting to see where the 744s and 764s get re-deployed.... A work in progress.

DRW

That's not going to make those happy who just came off a long TPAC in international C or F and now have to switch to domestic F for the rest of the trip. I guess it's not any different if you arrive in EWR from Europe and then continue on to LAX.

What does this mean for GUM, ie what flights will disappear there?

Will this also mean the end to the BF product on the IAH-HNL / HNL-IAH and EWR-HNL / HNL-EWR routes?

Doesn't UA fly international-configured 777s with C and F cabins? We shouldn't assume they would just drop a domestic configured 777 on this route. I thought HNL-GUM-xx was a big money-maker, including the premium cabin (which is why clearing an upgrade HNL-GUM was often so difficult as is IAH/EWR-HNL).

I don't think those going to SGN will care much. For SIN, they can fly through NRT if it's an issue.

Now, that would mean a true mini-hub at HKG. Wonder if they'll start other flights from there as well, or if they have the rights to.

This is already being addressed in the following forum in the consolidated forum:

Upcoming Pacific Gauge Changes for CO/UA

These should probably be merged...

I guess its true but never would have guessed because:

1) SIN-HKG has been 90%+ full when I have flown it - mostly people connecting to UA/CO HKG-ORD, HKG-SFO, HKG-EWR - do the loads or yeilds really justify a small aircraft? I guess yields have been too low even with mostly full planes? (Or mabey just my dates had the full planes)

2) HKG-SIN-HKG has been part of good aircraft utilization; a plane continues to SIN from the USA instead of overnight in HKG and leaves SIN to get to HKG in time to continue HKG-USA same day. So the plane spends 6 hours on the ground in SIN instead of 12+ hours at HKG. Will the new plan involve a lot more ground time in HKG or do they have a different way around it?

This is bound to happen. These routes will probably use UA's 777s.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that perhaps someone at the airline whose job it is to optimize such things, has the bigger picture than those of us here on FT.

The story, as told to me, was that UAL was getting their lunch handed to them flying the 744s on several of these routes. In the grand scheme of things, the ability to put 738s (or 739s) on these routes, and (dare I say it), free up the widebodies for more lucrative flying, is a good thing.

EWR/IAH - HNL will apparently continue to see 764s. The removal of the 764s from the GUM flying now frees up several aircraft to pursue new markets. Same for the 744s, 777s, etc.....

Only the opening scenes in the play......

DRW

It may also free up the UA 772/744 frames to continue a much needed rehab and I hope by that time an announcement has been made regarding their International configurations.

Sounds like some prepping for IAH/EWR-NRT to go to 744 and maybe EWR-HKG?

Haven't seen rumored in any of the threads is whether it means more (or all) of the 20/236 aircraft will be reconfigured along the other 764s with 35 flat beds.

Word is that the 764s are under consideration for 3-cabin mods as well. Seems that the company likes the economics of a J/Y 767-300ER, especially for EWR transatlantic ops, hence the all-but-official "rumor" of the domestic Ghetto Birds being upgraded and uprated to international standard. Party like it's 1995, as it were... ;)

My guess is that paying to park a 747 in HKG for 12hrs is cheaper than flying it to SGN/SIN, paying the landing fee, and then parking it there for 6hrs instead. A 738's economics are dramatically lower than a 747's, and likely make the whole proposition much more worthwhile.

highly unlikely at this point...........in the future when travel returns, yes. UA has already moved the ORD-NRT 744 to ORD-PEK.