2013 Westbound TATL 757 "Short Stops"
 

There seemed to be a rash of 57 "short stops" coming back from Europe last winter. I don't remember seeing any commentary on this forum about these stops since Jan. 1 this year. So it's not a problem so far this winter?

the BCN-EWR flight short stopped in Goose Bay a couple days ago, then diverted to BOS for pressurization problem. that is the only one I heard about recently.

There are probably close to a hundred posts in the thread last year from meteorologists and other interested observers commenting on the highly unusual transatlantic wind and weather patterns last year - it was considered a once-per-decade or even less frequent event. As a result there were some longer than usual segments that resulted in a higher than normal rate of fuel stops, mainly because it wasn't forecasted early enough to be able to manage passenger and cargo loads accordingly.

The other factor was the introduction of some unfamiliar segments (flights to IAD) which, in addition to being slightly longer were relatively immature in terms of UA's ability to forecast loads and exact aircraft performance.

Neither of those factors seem to exist to any meaningful degree this winter, so the planned fuel stop rate seems to be much closer to what it was 2+ years ago - i.e. effectively a non-issue.

not nearly as much this year...

why? because they learned from the past and are holding more seats empty to allow for more gas.

Yes, the winds this year aren't as bad as they were last year, but they replaced the 757 they used last year on the IAD-CDG route with a 763, and surprise, surprise, the problem went away.

Part of the problem is that the 757-300 was never meant to be a TATL bird. It's range is shorter than that of the 707-320B (3400 nautical miles vs 3800). For reference point, EWR-CDG is 3200 nautical miles. Piece of cake for the 707 but tough for the 753, especially westwards. The 727-200 Advanced that was occasionally and not successfully used in TATL routes had a 3500 nautical mile range.

If there is enough market, and it seems to be, someone should develop a single aisle TATL bird with range well in the 4000s.

*The range of the 752 is close to 4000 btw and the potential 753 replacements 737 Max 9 and A321neo have only 3600 nm range.

CO or UA never flew the 753 TATL.

interesting spin. The IAD-CDG-IAD route is the one that made up the vast majority of the flights in issue - It went from 777 to a 757 in a move you personally championed loudly for whatever reason.

When that turned out to be the complete disaster we all said it would be, and in light of an expose in the WSJ, the company quickly moved to replace that incompatible equipment with a proper wide body aircraft.

The winter winds being at "10 year highs" is spin from the company itself and nobody else. No surprise then that you state it as fact.

UAL97 ended up in Gander the other day: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/U...845Z/EDDT/KEWR

Friend of mine was on that flight. There was also engine trouble which caused the departure delay.

So, after this being a good year for TATL 757's, shall we expect Jeff to want to fly RJ's? :D

The 737 MAX 7 (126 passengers) will have a 3,800 nm Range fully loaded.

That should work for most East Coast USA <--> Europe flights just fine.

But wouldn't you want a minimum 150 pax capacity TATL for these second tier European cities--even in winter?

The 737 MAX 9 with 3,595 nmi Range fully loaded and 180 passenger capacity will probably replace the 757 on many current 757 routes.

Maybe they will develop an ER version of the MAX 9.

I hope not as it's bad enough the guppy has already replace many 57's on domestic routes :-(