787 on European routes?

[tfin]

I'm going to Kos for a weeks holiday with Thomson in June, flying from Manchester.

I've been sent the link to select my seats from their website, and according to the seating plan from Thomson it looks like it will be a 787. I've compared it to the plan on seat guru and they are pretty much identical. and is completely different from anything else in their fleet.

Seems odd as I thought Thomson only used the 787 for long haul routes. It's usually 737/757 on routes like this.

Has anyone heard anything about Thomson using the 787 for European routes this summer?

Cheers

[-crookedtail-]

I don't have any info on this specifically but airlines will operate a wide body on routes with a high load factor.

Aer Lingus has operated an A330 from Malaga > Dublin before now. Not exactly the same but Emirates has a scheduled A380 route at 1.5hrs Kuwait > Dubai

[alangla]

Apparently some of the BA runs from Glasgow/Edinburgh to London are booked for a 767 - much bigger than the usual A319/320 fare you normally find on that route.

[marky1]

-crookedtail- said:

I don't have any info on this specifically but airlines will operate a wide body on routes with a high load factor.

Aer Lingus has operated an A330 from Malaga > Dublin before now. Not exactly the same but Emirates has a scheduled A380 route at 1.5hrs Kuwait > Dubai

What a coincidence. I was on the aer lingus A330 today out of malaga.

[E30Addict]

alangla said:

Apparently some of the BA runs from Glasgow/Edinburgh to London are booked for a 767 - much bigger than the usual A319/320 fare you normally find on that route.

They use old 767s on the LHR-AMS route too - big plane for a 45 minute flight!

[couzens]

Was browsing flight radar and clicked on an Iberia A340 working Heathrow - Madrid, which I thought was a tad odd.

[Leptons]

We had a 787 on the way back from Cyprus a couple of years ago.

[Testaburger]

Yup, all about demand. We send 777s, 747s and A330s on 50 minute flights, many times a day.

Demand for some of the short routes is so high that it makes sense, rather than getting some smaller aircraft.

[towser44]

Wasn't there a high density seated 747 designed towards the Japanese market which is used on some of their domestic routes?

[Munter]

Wouldn't surprise me if the 787 did Florida and back, then a high demand short haul to Kos and back before the next long haul. Assuming they are as fuel efficient as they are supposed to be you'd want to use it as much as possible.

[tfin]

Some good opinions chaps, cheers.

Hopefully its not a mistake and I'll get a trip on a nice new dreamliner, as opposed to a battered old 737.

[pushthebutton]

Thomson's 737 fleet range from fairly to very new. There aren't any battered old ones left afaik.

[tfin]

pushthebutton said:

Thomson's 737 fleet range from fairly to very new. There aren't any battered old ones left afaik.

I flew on one last year, wasn't the best to be honest. The seats were worn and tired, none of the drop down screens were working and the whole thing just felt a bit past its sell by date.

Better than walking though.

[pushthebutton]

Definitely not a 757?

[halfpenny43]

E30Addict said:

alangla said:

Apparently some of the BA runs from Glasgow/Edinburgh to London are booked for a 767 - much bigger than the usual A319/320 fare you normally find on that route.

They use old 767s on the LHR-AMS route too - big plane for a 45 minute flight!

The 767 is used daily on the morning BA428 / BA429 due to its larger cargo capacity

[Leptons]

Leptons said:

We had a 787 on the way back from Cyprus a couple of years ago.

I'm talking st here it was a 767.

[R1nur]

Yes Thomson will be using the 787 on several short haul routes this summer. Mainly from MAN.

I'm not sure if KOS is one of the destinations but I will check.

[smack]

couzens said:

Was browsing flight radar and clicked on an Iberia A340 working Heathrow - Madrid, which I thought was a tad odd.

The main reason is that it is a wide body so they take cargo daily between MAD and LHR. IAG (BA/Iberia) are in the top 10 Cargo operators in the world, using their wide body Long Haul passenger aircraft (BA Cargo used to wet lease 747-8F through GSS but ended it last year). So use it to transfer cargo between the BA and Iberia route network. Whilst a A320/321 can take a cargo container, it is not full hight one used on wide bodies, and can't take pallets.

If a long haul route has low passenger loading, (unless it is a busy route like EWR with 3 daily flights, so can drop one and still fill an aircraft with all the passengers), BA will still run it and fill the hold with cargo.

[David87]

I think the SR was on older 747 variants, wasn't it? I think the more recent Japanese ones were called the 747-400D (Domestic). A very similar idea to the SR I would have thought, though!

[Ali Chappussy]

couzens said:

Was browsing flight radar and clicked on an Iberia A340 working Heathrow - Madrid, which I thought was a tad odd.

Nope, has been a regular occurrence for the last few years. usually, it's the late afternoon/early evening IB3166/7 and has been operated by both A340-300/600.