African operations possible with narrow body equipment

[regi]

Arik will serve LHR with B737-800s, from Lagos, replacing A340-500s

pretty long flight!

[GoldenEagle]

Arik flies already quite long with 737's at Heathrow.

[Air Key West]

TAP flies Lisbon Accra with A320

http://book.flytap.com/r3air/TAPBE/Powe ... maxConn=-1

[RoMax]

Arik flies already quite long with 737's at Heathrow.

But isn't that the Abuja route, while Lagos was (is?) still operated with A345?

[Air Key West]

TAP also flies LIS Bamako with 319.
Spanair BCN BKO with A321.
Aigle Azur Orly BKO with A321 (flight time 5h45).

[rwandan-flyer]

But isn't that the Abuja route, while Lagos was (is?) still operated with A345?

Yep but for a shortime, indeed one of two A340-500 will be in maintenance, so the airline will fly to London from Lagos with B737-800, from 31AUG 2011 to 31OCT 2011 according to Airline routes.

[sn26567]

See the latest Iberia press release issued today: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=45658

Iberia flies the Madrid-Malabo (Equarorial Guinea) with A319s having a separate business class section.

[Air Key West]

Several months ago, I was the only one of the very few in favor of some SN African destinations being operated with an A319 or A320. I got rebuffed by a couple of members on this forum and since I could not agree with several aspects of NCB's plans, I decided to shut up (however, not convinced that certain cities in Africa could not be operated with a narrow-body aircraft).

Now we see IB fly to Malabo and LOS, TP to ACC, Spanair and Aigle Azur to BKO, Air Arik LOS-LHR with narrow-body aircraft.

How do these airlines solve what some members here called unsolvable luggage and catering problems for such operations.

Would it really be impossible for SN to fly, for instance, three weekly (traffic rights permitting) with an A319 on the model of AF's A319 Dedicate configuration :
BRU OUA LFW OUA BRU
BRU NIM COO NIM BRU
BRU BKO ROB BKO BRU
BRU BJL FNA BJL BRU

This would free one or two A330s. One could be used to expand other African operations and one could be used to fly to the US.

Perhaps those who are fiercely against narrow-body operations to Africa could explain why some airlines can do it and why SN could not ? I'm always happy to learn.

[Air Key West]

Iberia's A319 Business Club class to Cairo, Tel Aviv, Moscow, Lagos and Malabo :

http://www.iberia.com/OneToOne/v3/obsme ... YMOUS=true

[sn26567]

Time for SN to adapt its medium-haul A319 business class (Moscow, Tel Aviv) if they want to remain competitive!

[Air Key West]

TK has ordered several Boeing 737 Next Generation planes, fifteen of which will be equipped with extra fuel tanks for operations mainly to African destinations.
On account of these longer routes, TK will offer more leg room on these aircraft both in C and Y.

(sorry only in Dutch) :
http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nl-NL/Ar ... dstoftanks

[taz001]

Several months ago, I was the only one of the very few in favor of some SN African destinations being operated with an A319 or A320. I got rebuffed by a couple of members on this forum and since I could not agree with several aspects of NCB's plans, I decided to shut up (however, not convinced that certain cities in Africa could not be operated with a narrow-body aircraft).

Now we see IB fly to Malabo and LOS, TP to ACC, Spanair and Aigle Azur to BKO, Air Arik LOS-LHR with narrow-body aircraft.

How do these airlines solve what some members here called unsolvable luggage and catering problems for such operations.

Would it really be impossible for SN to fly, for instance, three weekly (traffic rights permitting) with an A319 on the model of AF's A319 Dedicate configuration :
BRU OUA LFW OUA BRU
BRU NIM COO NIM BRU
BRU BKO ROB BKO BRU
BRU BJL FNA BJL BRU

This would free one or two A330s. One could be used to expand other African operations and one could be used to fly to the US.

Perhaps those who are fiercely against narrow-body operations to Africa could explain why some airlines can do it and why SN could not ? I'm always happy to learn.

Just my two cents, I have flown BRU-LIS-BKO on A319. Not really a problem for me as a passenger, maybe a loadfactor of 50%, so enough space available. LIS-BKO is not really a long haul flight neither. So for me this flight a A319 is OK.
My return was on SN BKO-BRU on A330. It was full, loadfactor around 95% (in combination with ACC). Flight time less than 6 hours so not that long neither, but still I was happy to be in a A330. Out of curiousity I asked SN staff if they had a lot of cargo and they said around 12 tons were loaded (seems a lot to me, but cargo is not my cup of tea).
I guess you cannot really compare, but an A330 on BRU-BKO-ACC-BKO-BRU seems a good choice while a A319 on LIS-BKO-LIS looks like a good option as well.

[RoMax]

Many of the routes mentionned above are from Portugal and Spain to West-Africa and even North-Africa. But as taz001 says, you can hardly call such routes long haul. Even flights out of BRU to West-Africa are 'short' long haul routes. So of course African operations with narrowbodies are possible. But I think it's a bit weird to compare for exemple BRU-BKO with MAD/LIS-BKO.

[sn26567]

AIR FRANCE has announced it will launch 4-weekly service to Port Gentil in Gabon, subject to Government Approval, on board A319LR.

[Air Key West]

Hi Mr Boeing !
As I mentioned earlier, Aigle Azur flies Paris-Bamako and Ouagadougou with an A321 with two classes, perhaps not comparable with LIS or MAD BKO, but imho very comparable to a possible BRU BKO or OUA.
I'm not claiming that African operations out of BRU by b.air should be done with narrow body equipement, but I still think it would be possible for a limited number of destinations with an A320 (while waiting for more A330s).

[RoMax]

Hi Mr Boeing !
As I mentioned earlier, Aigle Azur flies Paris-Bamako and Ouagadougou with an A321 with two classes, perhaps not comparable with LIS or MAD BKO, but imho very comparable to a possible BRU BKO or OUA.
I'm not claiming that African operations out of BRU by b.air should be done with narrow body equipement, but I still think it would be possible for a limited number of destinations with an A320 (while waiting for more A330s).

I didn't said it is not possible either. I think AF is doing a good job on some destinations to operate the A319LR. But only on routes with very limited demand, the current routes of SN are not so limited in demand that they require A319's.
But my point in my last post was just that you can't compare South-Europe to/from Africa with West-Europe to /from Africa. As South-Europe to/from West-Africa is no reall long haul. Otherwise BRU-Canary Islands for exemple would be long haul too.

[Flanker]

I think AF is doing a good job on some destinations to operate the A319LR. But only on routes with very limited demand, the current routes of SN are not so limited in demand that they require A319's.

Indeed, that's why they don't fly triangles and have daily frequencies on all 19 destinations.

[Air Key West]

LH with PrivatAir 737-800 from FRA to Accra

http://www.lufthansa.com/online/portal/ ... RGI64P1C15

[Flanker]

Here's an idea.
It's no secret that the seasonal character of the business is and has always been hurting SN and for that matter most European intra-Europe traffic at all European airlines.

This is my main area of concern with the recent volume strategy. It works the yields down, but specially, it increases fixed costs during the winter. Where SN could afford to park cheaply leased RJ85's more often during the winter, to reduce the capacity, the question is what to do with the larger and more expensive leases on the A32S.
Park them to save the fuel and lose on the lease?
Or make them fly to save on the lease but lose on the fuel?

A rather simple and low risk solution could be to create a hybrid model wherein the A32S comes to increase frequencies, capacity and even start new "Dedicate"-style routes in Africa (NKC,NIM) during the strong winter (where within range of the aircraft) and comes back to do Europe during the higher yielding summer.
That solves many problems at the same time. All it takes is a simple cabin reconfiguration between the two seasons from the high density NEK for Europe to a low density configuration à la Privatair/Dedicate, which would allow even at full capacity (+/- 105 pax on A319, 130 pax on A320), to carry sufficient amounts of fuel to fly 4500km great circle range routes such as BJL, OUA, NIM, NKC, BKO, LFW.

This gives rise to a more balanced strategy where the volume strategy that works in the summer is supported by a shift of capacity to Africa during the winter.

Thoughts?

[tolipanebas]

This is my main area of concern with the recent volume strategy: it works the yields down, but specially, it increases fixed costs during the winter.

To be fair, it's not SN, but competition which is working yields down; SN is simply trying to fight back on routes which see stiff competition by using a plane with low enough unit cost to be able to serve them profitably at the given lower yield.
As I've said numerous times already: you can not make the market buy your model, you have to come up with a model which suits the market, hence it should be no surprise the volume strategy has been used solely on those markets which face competition from LCCs, as otherwise it would have been self-destructive on yields indeed...
BTW, performance data from the past 6 months show the strategy did work even better than expected: revenues on routes where the strategy was used rose quicker than the extra costs from operating bigger planes there, so SN did make good money while at the same time won back market share too...

But you're right in that the volume strategy does not solve the problem of the winterseason when it is much harder to stimulate the market or to take away pax from competitors, for the simple reason they have fewer pax too...
As you've said yourself: it's just the way mediumhaul in Europe goes: even FR is parking a large part of its 738 fleet for exactly the same reasons during winterseason too....

A rather simple and low risk solution could be to create a hybrid model wherein the A32S comes to increase frequencies, capacity and even start new "Dedicate"-style routes in Africa (NKC,NIM) during the strong winter (where within range of the aircraft) and comes back to do Europe during the higher yielding summer.
That solves many problems at the same time.

Theoretically that would indeed 'evacuate' the capacity problem during periods of low demand in Europe (i.e. winter), but what are you going to use in summer time in AFI then, when the A32S are back in Europe?
Given bilateral limitations, the number of additional frequencies to existing destinations within comfortable reach on a standard A32S is going to be fairly limited, so you're effectively looking at starting up a set of new seasonal longhaul routes (like NKC or NIM), something which has to be approached quite carefully as longhaul routes take quite some time to become profitable: the last thing you'd want to do is to close a route by the time it makes you money, only to start all over again a few months later...
Not saying it can't be done, just saying opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa will be fairly limited, especially with standard A32S, which not only lack the range, but also the comfort and cargo hold to be really competitive on those routes. Now, if North Africa would be a stable region once again and start to florish like it never did before, then there may be opportunities there which are relatively nearby, like TIP for instance, but personally, it's not the time to go there now, I fear.

All it takes is a simple cabin reconfiguration between the two seasons from the high density NEK for Europe to a low density configuration à la Privatair/Dedicate, which would allow even at full capacity (+/- 105 pax on A319, 130 pax on A320), to carry sufficient amounts of fuel to fly 4500km great circle range routes such as BJL, OUA, NIM, NKC, BKO, LFW.

Carefull now: whereas a dedicated low density cabin configuration more suitable for long haul operations can indeed increase range and thus changes of finding enough suitable sub-Saharan destinations for such a dedicated fleet while at the same time work away your comfort handicap, such a 'simple cabin reconfiguration' like you call it, isn't so simple anymore actually.
Assuming you want to offer a product on a par with the rest of the soon to be refurbished A330 fleet and in line with what competitors offer their pax too, you're effectively talking here not just about increasing seat pitch, but about installing lie-flat business class seats, economy seats with PTV and additional galley space and ovens to care for your long haul pax on board the A32S in the same way as on the A330. Note that all of the above modifications are touching the electrical architecture of your plane, so you may count on several weeks for a single reconfiguration AT LEAST. If you want to make this plan of yours have any positive effect and thus have more than just 1 or 2 planes in this project, by the time you're finished reconfiguring your fleet, you can start bringing them back to their former configuration once again, so it's going to be quite an expensive reconfiguration for only a very short period of time, and as such it will likely not be worth it.

The alternative is of course to leave those A32S in that low density, high comfort configuration when they come back to European routes for the summerseason, an idea which I remember you once promoted when you were thinking about another sort of 'hybrid model' for SN, with A32S rotating between EU and AFI on a daily/nightly basis even, but the same comments apply to it nevertheless: you can't operate such dedicated planes profitably in European shorthaul routes, certainly NOT when using a volume strategy. A didicated A319 up against an Easyjet A319 is just the same as an RJ100 up against an Easyjet A319 you know, or even worse still!

This gives rise to a more balanced strategy where the volume strategy that works in the summer is supported by a shift of capacity to Africa during the winter.

Well, let me say that I am pleased with the fact you admit the volume strategy is not such an insane idea after all, as well as with the fact you've come to senses with the real world range you can get from a standard A32S. However, even this heavily tweeked second version of your concept of using A32S on AFI, albeit more realistic this time, is still not a very efficient plan for the simple reason you've simply swapped a known (over)capacity problem in winter for a new (under)capacity problem in summer, all while at the same time adding a lot of costs to the ballance sheet, unless of course you intend to operate to AFI on standard A32S in NEK configuration, in which case you commit commercial suicide.