I looked up Boeing 787 tracking and I find out that Boeing 4 is out above the Pacific Ocean. Can I get some clarification on what is going on?
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BOE4/history/20100514/1647Z/KVCV/KVCV
It was this aircraft.
Reg: N7874 (Hex: AAAD6B)
Callsign: 23 (That’s what the aircraft is broadcasting).
Uh, I get the feeling the aircraft was going on a test flight.
Boeing 23 Heavy. I hear them on the radio when in Joshia Approach airspace. The Restricted Areas around Edwards has been hot into the flight levels on the weekend. I’ve assumed that was for 747 and 787 testing.
Frank Holbert
160knots.com
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We do have to test longer than a couple hours ya know 
True but it caught my eye when it said 14 hours
Well what you think they will fly for routes in service 
. Also (since Im not on the program I know not) it seems like it would be about time to take fuel burn readings et al and see what the legs are like on it.
Well, I guess now we know it will be able to fly to Sydney, Australia
10:53? That puts it at 7 minutes late in flying time on the KLAX-NZAA route. That flight took 10:46 when I was on it, on a B744. It’s another 3 hours from there to YSSY or YMML.
However, this does put into question HAL’s PHNL-YSSY route with the B767 and their bringing in A332s to replace them. Also, if this can make the KLAX-YSSY run, this may cause UAL to rethink their A350 order that was to replace their B744s. with the COA CEO at the helm, this really does put some reconsideration into that order. Airbus will need to come up with some killer performance with the A350 to swing that momentum around.
BL.
Oh! They changed it! It said 14 hours last night
United has known all along that the 787 can fly LAX-Australia.
The problem is that United is currently filling a 747 on the route. Going down to a 787 would be too much of a capacity reduction.
True, but the modus operandi of US carriers since they were bailed out in 2002 has been to sacrifice capacity for frequency.
However, you may have just found the reason that UAL may keep the A350 order. With the limits Australia has on curfew and number of flights, using the B787 on that route (KLAX-YSSY or KLAX-YMML) would be cut a little uner half (374 in a 4-class config on their B744, to 224 in a 3-class config on a B787-8, and 30 seats less in their smallest B772 4-class config). In a 3-class config, the A350-900 will net 314 seats.
If there is a frequency limit on those trans Pacific routes, the B787-8 wouldn’t be a good choice for them on that route. They’d have to run twice the flights to cover the B744’s capacity.
BL.
Source for that?
With their modern 3 cabin configurations United won’t pack nearly that many seats in their A359. More like ~250: 8F 40C 100 E+ 100 Y
flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL8 … /KLAX/YSSY
Past 3 week’s flights on their KLAX-YSSY runs have been on a B744. Looks like they dropped their KLAX-YMML run, and their B772s are doing their west coast runs to Asia.
They only have 2 flights on the Australia routes (from LAX and SFO), so I wonder if they are limited to how many daily flights they can send down there…
[quote=“tyketto”]
However, you may have just found the reason that UAL may keep the A350 order. With the limits Australia has on curfew and number of flights, using the B787 on that route (KLAX-YSSY or KLAX-YMML) would be cut a little uner half (374 in a 4-class config on their B744, to 224 in a 3-class config on a B787-8, and 30 seats less in their smallest B772 4-class config). In a 3-class config, the A350-900 will net 314 seats.
With their modern 3 cabin configurations United won’t pack nearly that many seats in their A359. More like ~250: 8F 40C 100 E+ 100 Y
[/quote]
Which puts this even with their B772s, but around 40 seats more than their B788s.
BL.
Source for “filling” or source for type of aircraft?
tyketto’s post made me wonder.
Statistics for United on the USA/Australia route. Data is from BTS.
All flights are on 747-400.
Seats offered: 505,640
Passengers: 403,760
Load factor: 79.9%
Departures scheduled and departures performed were 1,356 each.
Seats are being filled. 80% load factor is not too bad, depending on the average fare. Freight and mail load factor was 8%. Considering the distance, I’m not surprised at that.
I was questioning the filling of the flights with all the new capacity on the route.
Hmm, I didn’t think the BTS had international data.
Yes, the A359 is about the same floor space as the B772, just narrower and longer.