A May 8th account in a nationwide daily newspaper highlights the fact of American making a decision to go with narrow body Boeing 757 aircraft types on determined overseas routes. The airline joins Northwest (soon to be Delta) Airlines, for one, in using 757-200 aircraft that have been retrofitted with winglets (they increase a plane’s life and enhance fuel economy) and certified for what’s called ETOPS (“Extended-Range Twin-Engine Operations”) flights to destinations overseas. In the airline biz, we refer to ETOPS as “Engines Turn, OR Passengers Swim.” Just a joke, folks, honest a joke!
American states it’ll be flying to a number of Latin American and European destinations using the 757-200ER. It’s already kicked off the experiment, placing this aircraft on its recent York (JFK) to Brussels, Belgium (BRU) route. Cabin configuration will be 16 seats “up front” (First Class) in a 2 and 2 (2 nice seats on each side, with an aisle separating them) and 166 seats “in help” (Coach or Economy Class) in a 3 and 3 plan.
Having had to “work” (turnaround) these ETOPS 757-200s on the ground, I’m don’t know if they’re the greatest aircraft in the world to expend on very long routes such as these. For anybody who’s ever had to wing for several hours in the center seat on a 757, let me honest borrow a phrase from Bill Clinton and say that “I can feel your injure.”
And for “below sail” (those employees loading, unloading or refueling and otherwise working outside on the aircraft while it’s in the gate) folks turning this plane around…well, I hope you’re doing plenty of low-back exercises and more than a few biceps curls because this plane can be a crusher without enough staff establish on it to work it.
composed, it’s economical enough to flee, with two fuel-efficient engines. And if the leadership at American is vivid (a point qualified of debate), it’ll crop its customers a effect wreck on the tickets. I doubt it, though. Airline economics being what they are these days – and with the note of jet fuel (“Jet A”) going up and down like a roller coaster car – most airlines are desperate to squeeze economies out of any flight they operate while simultaneously inching the cost of a price upward over time.
