UKV1212 - Adam Hillier Posted October 12, 2016 Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 Dear Members, It has been another busy month here at Fly UK! We're now into the final weeks of our Summer schedule and the new Winter schedules are just around the corner. Lots will be happening over the next few months with regards to our fleet and schedules, information on some of these changes can be found below. Once again, thank you for continuing to fly with us. Here is our latest news and updates for members. The past month was fantastic in terms activity at Fly UK. An average of 360 unique pilots per week filed a PIREP in September. We received 3012 Mainstream PIREPs, 1301 Tour PIREPs and 989 Flying Club PIREPs.New IVAO Tours Two exciting new IVAO tours have been added. The 2016 Britain and Ireland Turboprop tour, comprises of 17 sectors around Britain and Ireland, and includes a short hop to Scandinavia. The 2016 Long Haul World Tour has also been added. The 2015 tours have been moved into the retirement home, pilots who have started these tours will have time to complete the tours. The Britain and Ireland tours will be retired on 31st October 2016 and the 2015 Long Haul tour will be retired on 30th November 2016. Pilots are welcome to fly these tours either online or offline and can also log their pireps with IVAO should the flights take place on the IVAO network. Fleet News Fly UK is about to embark on a number of fleet changes over the coming months and into 2017. This follows an extensive review of the operational demands, statistical review of member PIREP’s and forward fleet policy. As ever we seek to find the best balance to suit all members whilst remaining true to our fleet policy and retaining the Fly UK core principles and values. Whilst we have a number of new and exciting types due onto fleet over the next 12 months we are also conscious of fans of the three types which will start to retire over the next year. Whilst they should be of no surprise, the below gives solid indication of time frames to allow members to maximise their enjoyment in those aircraft prior to final retirement. Fleet Changes Boeing 737-700/737-800 – Nine FLY2 737-700’s will move from FLY2 to the mainstream Fly UK fleet for deployment on domestic services. The remainder will be retired. This will be in direct exchange for nine 737-800’s moving to FLY2 which offer a higher capacity needed for the holiday routes. An additional 12 737-800’s will be leased for FLY2. Boeing 767-300 – With introduction of the 787 we start our 767 retirement program. We will initially retire eight airframes with the remainder to be replaced by end of 2017. Boeing 747-400 –There will be a very small reduction in 747-400 numbers to be replaced with the more popular 777. Our current 747 fleet will be undergoing a total cabin refurb thus extending their useful life for many more years. McDonnell Douglas MD11F – Our oldest airframe has been in line for retirement for some time, this will now take place during Q1 2017. Airbus A330 – Agreements have been made for lease of four A330-200’s to serve on long haul FLY2 holiday destinations, these will likely join us in the latter part of Q2, possibly early Q3 2017. This could however. be brought forward due to operation to operational requirements. Airbus A320 – Orders have been placed for nine new A320-CEO aircraft which will be delivered late 2017. These will replace the remaining 737-700’s. Bombardier CRJ-700 – Purchase orders have been placed on four CRJ-700’s for 2017 delivery. We also have purchase options on a further four. These will be based from Birmingham. Boeing 787-8 - Fly UK will finally take delivery of six 787’s during October to be deployed between Heathrow and Manchester. An additional eight have been ordered for delivery in 2017 to replace the remaining 767 fleet. Boeing 777-200LR – Fly UK will lease an additional seven 777-200LR for Winter 2016/17 operations. These will take over a combination of 767 and 747 routes to offset fleet reductions. 777-200LRF – Four aircraft on order due early 2017 as direct replacement for our ageing and inefficient MD11F. FLY2 Operations Update With the forthcoming Winter 2016/17 schedule change, Fly UK will complete the transition of FLY2 from its low cost roots to a leisure and holiday airline started during 2016. With the announced fleet re-balance, FLY2 is set to serve and provide higher capacity on the common Winter routes which the 737-700 was not best suited. The normal Winter sun and ski destinations will feature. However the long established FLY2 bases at Leeds, Stansted and Liverpool designed around low cost operational models will change to accommodate a broader UK wide offering to reflect our real world holiday competitors. These will be classified as follows: FLY2 Primary – Larger bases operating full FLY2 Schedule with multiple airframes based. These will be Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow. Fly 2 Secondary – Regional UK airfields (not covered by mainstream) sharing airframes and operating to the major Fly 2 destinations. Winter operations will run from Belfast, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster, Edinburgh, Exeter, East Midlands, Newcastle, Norwich, Leeds, Luton and Stansted. Winter FLY2 Schedules FLY2 will operate comprehensive coverage over the winter sports and ski season from all its UK operating airfields. All of the favourite destinations in France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria will feature along with new routes to Lleida-Alguaire (Catalan, Andorra), Friedrichshafen (Germany) and Fagernes (Norway). If sun and warmth is more your cup of tea then the Canary Islands, Morocco and Madeira are well served with Faro and Alicante closer to home. FLY2 Primary bases will also operate to Cape Verde and a new route to Banjul, Gambia. Winter FLY2 Overseas Wet-Lease Fly 2 also faces a challenge with seasonal demand with natural seasonal variation always meaning we need more aircraft in Summer than we do in Winter. Rather than store surplus airframes over the Winter months, a deal has been reached with a Canadian tour operator to provide fully crewed wet lease on a number of airframes. The peak season for Canadian charter airlines is during the Winter when Canadians seek to escape to warmer climes! Three 757’s will operate from Montreal under UKV callsigns operating to Cuba, Mexico, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Florida, Las Vegas and many of the Caribbean Islands. Mainstream Short/Medium Haul To address an issue created when Fly 2 moved to a holiday focus, the 737-700’s returning to Mainstream operations will be deployed primarily on domestics operations. This provides a better choice of routes for Class E pilots wishing to build hours and move up the ranks. LHR, MAN and BHX will run the 737-700 alongside the existing fleet types based there. Otherwise the current fleet remains in situ at their allocated bases. With some potential overlap at bases which will have both Mainstream and FLY2 operations such as LGW, the mainstream routes will be updated to avoid conflict. Scheduled services will however continue to a number of key destinations such as Faro and Barcelona where schedule demand exists in addition to the holiday Charter market. Several new permanent and seasonal winter routes have been added: Birmingham – Milan Birmingham – Geneva Gatwick – Porto Gatwick – Krakow Gatwick – Vilnius Gatwick – Ljubljana Gatwick – Wrocław London City – Chambery London City – Bern Mainstream Long Haul We have recently reviewed our least and most popular long haul routes. As to ensure greater accessibility for those wanting to fly further afield we have added a number of new routes all of which will be flown from London Heathrow. Abu Dhabi Bangkok Delhi New York Newark Mexico City October Online Events Thanks to UKV1777 Peter Kaminski who has helped Derek with the event flights for this month. Events are held on IVAO, Saturday at 0600z and repeated on VATSIM, Tuesday at 1830z and Thursday at 1300z.Week 2: CYFB (Iqaluit, Canada) to BGGH (Nuuk, Greenland)Week.3: LICJ (Palermo, Italy) to LSGS (Sion, Switzerland)Week 4: EETN (Tallinn, Estonia) to ENTC (Tromsø, Norway) Week 5: EFHK (Helsinki, Finland) to LKPR (Prague, Czech Republic) Please visit our online events page for more information or to register your attendance. Screenshot Competition - Sponsored by UK2000 SceneryCongratulations to UKV1263 - Sam Waters who was the winner of the September Screenshot Competition with his winning shot 'Moments from Touchdown'. Sam won himself a UK2000 Xtreme scenery package. Well done!The theme for the October Screenshot Competition is 'Big City'. For more information and to the enter the competition, please see the link below:October Competition - 'Big City' ---ENDS--- Chris Sutcliffe - Chairmanchris.sutcliffe[at]flyuk.aero Adam Hillier - Vice Chairmanadam.hillier[at]flyuk.aero On behalf of the Fly UK Staff Team 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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