Unionruler

Is it just me or does JL have really bad utilisation of its fleet of 13 777-300ERs?

13 frames translate to 13 x 24 = 312 plane-hours a day
Block times of all 14 flights = 171.25 plane-hours
https://www.jal.co.jp/en/inter/service/rosen/suite.html
Turnaround time assume 2:30 x 14 = 35 plane-hours

Utilisation = (171.25 + 35) / 312 = 66.1%

If we assume that JL has determined that there should be 1 frame idling as a reserve for IRROPs at all times, and 1 more in maintenance checks:

Adjusted Utilisation = (171.25 + 35 + 48) / 312 = 81.5%

With 57.75 plane-hours in hand every day, JL appears to have the schedule flex to convert one more North America destination + one Oceania destination to 77W service with F on a daily basis.

MattEvan

I've always been a bit surprised that they leave a 77W at JFK for over 14 hours every single day.

CPH-Flyer

They can't turn it the same say as it would not make it back to Narita at a practical time. And if it leaves Narita earlier, it would probably miss a lot of Asian connections.

They could let this frame return to Haneda, it should make the late night Asian departures for connections. Letting a frame do HND-JFK-NRT-JFK-HND But I am sure there are good reasons why they don't actually do this

jgchiker

Look at the Qantas taking a daytime nap @Haneda everyday. Each airline has it's own reasons.

​​​​​​JAL could fly to Miami though. Damn cabbage [sic] rules!

kaka

MattEvan

CPH-Flyer

Yes, if it returns the same time as now. But the point was, with the connections to Asia begin available, and public transport being available, and Haneda generally being open, they could do a normal length turn by using this pattern Also it would allow them to have a day and an evening departure from JFK.

CPH-Flyer

That's a very unstrict strict rule You'll find that Ho Chí Minh City is served in a pattern that is HND-SGN-NRT-YVR-NRT-SGN-HND then typically the frame will do a few PEK and GMP runs from Haneda before repeating this pattern This will change with the summer schedule as YVR is getting Skysuite and SGN is not. But looking at departure times the frame arriving in SGN from NRT will continue to return to HND, and vice versa.

You will see the same on Singapore, that frames coming from Narita returns to Haneda, and vice versa.

MattEvan

I stand corrected!

greenarmy

JL's main problem is that all of their flagship routes are 1000 miles too long. None of these routes can be flown out, turned, back, and turned again inside 24hrs. As the route has to go at the same time each day, the planes are always going to be out of whack and "underused".
Also it allows them to time the flights for when people want them. Particularly the JFK flights, there is potentially a case for shortening the turn and going to a night flight, but clearly they've decided a 1am depart 4:30/5am arrival is too brutal. But they are hardly the only airline who has low utilisation on their most important routes.

Qantas for example has only 12 A380s. A scare resource, but they leave them parked up for 14hrs a day down route in London, 7hrs in Dallas, and 2 of them park up for 15hrs at LAX. In Singapore, the a380 from Melbourne is turned in a comparatively rapid 2hrs45 whilst the one from Sydney takes 4. All of these are done to maximise how many of their routes leave after 7pm local and land earlyish the follow morning. High utilisation is good on paper, but not if it means flying the plane empty..

CPH-Flyer

There are indeed many other things to take in to consideration. And I am sure that the airlines who have been doing this planning for years and years have good reasons for their choices.

I think Qantas do maintenance checks in LAX so they use the time more effectively than just idling. They used to at least, not sure if they stil do.