iahflyr

I’m guessing that is not the case. Rough math, an A330 FO is making $280/hr X 15:45. Add in 17% DC, profit sharing, sick time, benefits, premium pay, training costs, etc… you’re likely close to 10k per round trip flight on average cost to the company to staff an additional unneeded pilot. That adds up real quick.

If that were the case, they would be staffing flights that require 3 pilots with 4 pilots. Obviously they don’t do that.

BOS-LHR will be staffed with 2 pilots. DUB/LIS/EDI/etc… would be staffed with 2 pilots if they ever went to the 330. CDG and AMS may be scheduled with 3 crew, but would absolutely dispatch with 2 if necessary.

Jaxs170

No sense talking about it until the engine issues with the NEOs and 220 are behind us. Once we have those issues settled then we'll find out.

My personal guess: Both (eventually)

320 because the numbers make sense (which they do already) and to protect the Delta 1 product on the NEOs

220 to keep pressure on JetBlue as they go to all 220 service in the many markets we compete in

PilotJ3

Followed by….

MCO
MCO
MCO
AUS and LAS

as the LcC will keep have issues due to our model working better than theirs.

Whoopsmybad

the 6 day credit killers will not go away, because now they can fill holes with SC pilots in BOS. This may actually increase them (maybe??)

Hotel Kilo

NEOs are having issues. They break. It got so bad for B6 they stopped using them down to the islands. We are seeing some similar results but not as bad as B6 (our tech ops folks are awesome). Right now looking at the NB bid packs it seems both the 320 family and the 73 do quite a bit of flying out of BOS. So I would guess in the future we see the 320 then 73 added to the fleet mix in BOS. That is really going to pull on the NY base I imagine, time will tell.

As far as the 220, I agree unitl the engines are sorted out I don't see them opening another base for them in the near future. Of course all this is just spit balling, but it's a fun exercise. It's really hard to get inside networks head. Big mystery behind the closed doors for sure. General Lee might have some inside baseball for us maybe??

Jaxs170

THe 320 does about 3x the flying as the 73. For AUG here are the approximate monthly departures:

-320: 1200 (to everywhere)

-737: 400 (almost solely FLA and the caribbean)

SEA only has about 750 departures on the 320. This descrepency between BOS and SEA on the 320 has been there for quite a while (and will INCREASE when the NEOs take over BOS-LAX), which is part of the reason us BOStonians can't understand why BS won't open the 320 base (that they were opening in 2020 with only around 800 monthly departures)

Now is when they should get BOS open because of the ATC restrictions limting NYC traffic numbers

But again, I seriously doubt they will do anything until most of the engine issues are in the rear view mirror

PilotJ3

My opinion…

They probably want to do the 330 first. Then once people get there, probably open a small 320 base and increase from there.

They probably don’t want to rock the boat much in the training department and maximum amount of people seatlocked.

172skychicken

The average stage length out of SEA is substantially longer. And more importantly, it was an existing base. That being said, if BOS does open as planned, there's no way there isn't a 320 category there within a few years.

Big E 757

So, I rode a jumpseat to work a couple weeks ago....about a week before the official announcement and the FO worked in the NYC CPO and I asked about this directly..

He told me network is always reluctant to give more than 6-12 months commitment about fleet plans. And by virtue of this, crew resources is reluctant to commit to new pilot bases. For whatever reason, Network gave Crew resources a 2 or 3 year commitment to Boston A330 fleet plans this time, and we have substantial deliveries on the 330, with what I'm told is another biggish A330-900 order that is inked but still dealing with Rolls Royce on the MRO details so it's not been announced. Lots of planes, lots of new routes and frequencies that haven't been announced, and they need, yes need, to take pressure off the JFK operation so Boston was next best for some of these new routes and frequencies. Hopefully SLC gets some love soon, and DTW too. I think DTW is the biggest head scratcher to me because it's only a 1 hour flight from every northeast city and they have that huge, beautiful terminal and it seems like they have plenty of room to add flights. Hopefully that and SLC next.

Also, someone mentioned TLV out of BOS. They did have that service and it ended with the October 7th attack, and I'm told they don't intend to bring it back. I guess we've got a cushy new codeshare with El Al and they're doing 3-4 flights to JfK a day I think. I just did TLV out of JFK. Layover right on the beach in an awesome location, with great beach bars and restaurants. It was one of the few layovers in my career where I felt like I was almost on vacation. And the Israelies are out and about living their best lives. Truly wonderful to see.

Whoopsmybad

Because DTW couldn’t get a flight out on time or park a plane on time to save their collective a$$es.
Lots of disfunction outside of flight ops there.