Second L1011 to operate into BRU ?

Robin_Bamps · Post by **Robin_Bamps** » 12 Nov 2004, 10:10

Hello everybody,

I just read this message in the PP.net forum :

Hi,

WAL - West African Link is the name of a new L-1011 TriStar operator based at Gambia. They intended to fly from Banjul to London, Brussels, Paris, New York and Washington.

The TriStar is series 050, cn 1066, actuell registration C5-WAL.
colours: (boring) white fuselage/dark blue tail and blue WAL titles. Seen stored at DAL end 09/2004

Hans

I'm very curious if this will be true !

Regards, Robin Bamps.

SilverJET · Post by **SilverJET** » 12 Nov 2004, 11:15

That sounds great, another "oldie" at BRU. If this is true, I can't say, there are a lot of rumours lately, just wait and see.

Regards
Raymond

AN124 · Post by **AN124** » 12 Nov 2004, 11:32

It should be this Tristar then: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/560840/L/

But when reading about the cls it reminds me to a Luzair Tristar. They are white with a dark blue tail.

Best Regards,
Yvo

website-info · Post by **website-info** » 12 Nov 2004, 12:30

Hi Gents,

Seems the aircraft is in Port of Spain on a C-Check and entry to service 01 Dec , company site with pics is below

http://www.flywal.com/aircraft.html

Rgds
Tony

B737229 · Post by **B737229** » 12 Nov 2004, 12:40

From their site:

WAL is proud to be a Gambian based airline! We will be conducting scheduled and charter flights to and from The Gambia. The following are our tentative routes:

Africa / Europe

Banjul - London - Banjul

Banjul - Brussels - Banjul

Conakry - Paris - Conakry

Africa / USA

Banjul - New York - Banjul

Banjul - Washington DC - Banjul

Intra Africa

Banjul to the following locations:

Dakar
Bissau
Bamako
Conakry
Freetown
Accra
Lagos
Douala

Zorba · Post by **Zorba** » 12 Nov 2004, 14:56

Great to have such a plane here at BRU again!

Now I hope they will not come by night

AN124 · Post by **AN124** » 12 Nov 2004, 16:19

Their livery is looking nice if you ask me.
Let's wait and see what we can expect from this airline.

Best Regards,
Yvo

C_J · Post by **C_J** » 12 Nov 2004, 17:12

Nice!!! quite a boring livery I guess...
How is Hewa Bora doing at this moment?

SN30952 · Post by **SN30952** » 12 Nov 2004, 17:37

The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar was the third widebody passenger jet airliner following the Boeing 747 "jumbo jet" and the Douglas DC-10. The L-1011 was considered the world's most technologically-advanced airliner at the time of introduction. The L-1011 and the DC-10 are very much alike, as they were built to meet the same requirements: a 300-seat airliner with a Mach 0.8 cruise and operations from a 9,000 ft (2,700 m) runway on a hot day.
Lockheed located the third engine in the rear fuselage with the air intake on top of the fuselage. This arrangement is commonly known as the S-duct. This is more similar to that of the Boeing 727 than the DC-10.
Like the DC-10, the L-1011 featured a underfloor galley for preparing in-flight meals and cart storage during takeoff and landing.

The L-1011 was set with a range of 3,160 miles (5,100 km) with a payload of 56,200 pounds (25, 500 kg) at an economical cruise speed of 565 mph (910 kph) or Mach 0.85 at an altitude of 31,000 - 35,000 ft (9,500 - 10,700 m)
The L-1011-2 variant would had the same dimensions as the standard aircraft, with an increased gross weight of 466,000 pounds (212,000 kg) with structural strengthening. This would give a range of 4,000 miles (7,400 km)equipped with the Rolls-Royce new RB211-24, but the oil crisis of 1973 forced the manufacturer to halt development of the L-1011-2 .
In March 1973, Cathay Pacific Airways signed for two L-extended-range variants and options for more. These types carried a larger center fuel tank, that center fuel tank was capable of carrying 19,000 pounds (8,600 kg) of fuel, increasing the takeoff weight by 36,000 pounds (16,300 kg) to 466,000 pounds (212,000 kg). This boosted the range by 900 miles (1,700 km) to 3,700 miles (6,800 km) with a load of 257 passengers, giving full transatlantic capability.
The range of the L-1011-200 still could not match that of the DC-10-30.
Lockheed announced a newly refined Dash 500: shorter but heavier: 24,500 kg of extra fuel was carried in the center tank to allow a range of 8,500 km. The underfloor galley had to be relocated to the maindeck. The wingspan was increased by 2.7 m to comply with the deployment of active ailerons and to give a 2.5% fuel saving.

All Nippon Airways, Arrow Air, British Airways, BWIA, Cathay Pacific, Court Line, Delta Airlines, Eastern Airlines, Fine Air, Gulf Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia Airlines, LTU, National Airlines, Pan Am, Peach Air, PSA, TAP Air Portugal Trans World Airlines, United Airlines (ex Pan Am's), Royal Jordanian and Saudi Arabian Airlines flew them.
TWA withdrew its last TriStar from service in 1997.
Delta retired their last L-1011 on July 31, 2001
Lockheed manufactured a total of 250 TriStars, till 1984.
The L-1011 was designed with an airframe durable for essentially unlimited fatigue life if properly maintained, it is one of the most trouble-free jetliners ever built.
Approximately only 50 (Dave estimates 40) remain in service.

Note: BJL =>NYC = 6315 km

MiStEr-T · Post by **MiStEr-T** » 13 Nov 2004, 02:21

WAL Gambia (western african link) is a division of WAL (world air leasing) and they provide services for long term dry leases, ACMI leases, sale lease-back, ad-hoc charters, and airline consulting, to help service the airline market. WAL assists with the procurement of aircraft for government projects, tour operators, timeshare developers, freight and charter airlines.

WAL and WAL gambia have the same name and same logo.

That sounds great, another "oldie" at BRU.

We can expect to see The L-1011 C5-WAL, but look at the end of this webpage:
http://www.flywal.com/aircraft.html and http://www.flywal.com/employment.htm

A possibly 747-200/747-300 pax service to BRU !!!!!!!!!!!!

TBK :jump:

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 13 Nov 2004, 15:39

I really hope that they will be able to launch their service to BRU

Another L-1011 or even a B747classic would be greatly appreciated in BRU (at least by the spotters

)

I suppose that the L-1011 will get some new paint during the C-check ? It would be great though to see it in the yellow livery in BRU

Chris

MiStEr-T · Post by **MiStEr-T** » 13 Nov 2004, 16:05

Avro wrote:I suppose that the L-1011 will get some new paint during the C-check ? It would be great though to see it in the yellow livery in BRU

Before C-check:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/560840/L/

After C-check:

http://www.flywal.com/aircraft.html

This L1011-50 is located in and parked in Dallas, Texas and is available to fly immediately.

TBK :jump:

Vonsmalhausen · Post by **Vonsmalhausen** » 13 Nov 2004, 21:19

great

i hope these birds come in daylight time

Established02 · Post by **Established02** » 13 Nov 2004, 22:03

> West African Link ... intended to fly from Banjul to ... Brussels

I believe SN is already operating 3 weekly flights to Banjul with A333.

Is there demand for additional capacity between Belgium and Gambia?

In the past various African carriers have had a rather hard time to make BRU a succesfull operation. Cameroon Airlines pulled out. Air Gabon pulled out. Air Mauritius pulled out.

> How is Hewa Bora doing at this moment?

Earlier it had been mentioned on this site that Hewa Bora might stop flying FIH-BRU with their own metal, and continue the route as a code share with SN. I don't know about the current status.

OrientThai · Post by **OrientThai** » 14 Nov 2004, 12:13

It would be nice to have another L-1011 at BRU and even better if they operate the B747. I hope they will come, because there are so many rumours about new airlines who might come to BRU...but never come

(like a company who said some months ago to start a new route between BRU and Paramaribo, here is the news: https://www.aviation24.be/article4406.html
BTW does someone know if Ethiopian is going to come to BRU, and if yes when?
Thanks in advance.

sab319 · Post by **sab319** » 14 Nov 2004, 12:14

Well I'd be surprised if they start flying to BRU...

OrientThai · Post by **OrientThai** » 14 Nov 2004, 19:25

I believe SN is already operating 3 weekly flights to Banjul with A333.
Is there demand for additional capacity between Belgium and Gambia?

Maybe connecting passengers to their African network.

How is Hewa Bora doing at this moment? Earlier it had been mentioned on this site that Hewa Bora might stop flying FIH-BRU with their own metal, and continue the route as a code share with SN.

From what I've heard Hewa Bora is doing quite well on the FIH-BRU (they even put extra flights to BRU during this summer). I think this project has been abandoned.

themole · Post by **themole** » 15 Nov 2004, 18:33

This West African Link project seems like one big joke to me. Their website http://www.flywal.com looks very amateurish - even teenagers can do a better job -, and their plans are hardly feasible. Forget about this project, its not going to happen.

Post by **Kapitein** » 15 Nov 2004, 20:01

OrientThai wrote:
From what I've heard Hewa Bora is doing quite well on the FIH-BRU (they even put extra flights to BRU during this summer). I think this project has been abandoned.

Hewa Bora had last Sunday (14/11) 148 departing pax, not so bad I think.
SNBA had 169 departing pax on their flight to FIH and LAD

Established02 · Post by **Established02** » 15 Nov 2004, 21:11

Hewa Bora had last Sunday (14/11) 148 departing pax, not so bad I think. SNBA had 169 departing pax on their flight to FIH and LAD.

That's 317 pax for both flights combined. 169 departing (revenue and non revenue) pax for SN out of 264 seats on their A333 = 64% load factor. One might perhaps expect more pax on such a route, but then again it's all about revenue rather than about load factor. November is probably off season as well.

http://www.hba.cd/

On their website ALX advertises a CARNAVAL SPECIAL (21/02/05-07/03/05) for their FIH-BRU-FIH flights at '725 USD / 725 EUR'. A similar return flight with SN -during the same time period- goes for a 1000 EUR.

Passenger Fare Taxes Fees Number of passengers Total
Adult €962.00 €68.43 €0.00 1 €1,030.43