WHY DO EU CARRIERS PARK AT JNB FOR 10-12 HOURS?
POST M A R K I VJ
Looking at the airline timetables, several EU carriers seem to land in the morning (7a-9a window) at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International airport ( JNB) and depart after 8pm. So that’s a good 10-12 hours at the JNB tarmac. And most fly 777s, 747s or A380s. Couldn’t they have the normal two-hour turnaround and land back in the EU by 10-11pm and stay within the flight curfew hours? Or is there another reason why they’re parked for so long? BA flies 747s and A380s during peak periods – I’m thinking: couldn’t that plane have been used for another flight had it returned to London Heathrow (LHR) the same day/night?
AMCWHIRTER
It’s the same situation at Sydney airport (SYD); BA’s flight remains on the ground from 0650 until 1630. It's because of a combination of factors, such as the curfew, and scheduling flights for optimum connections at both end of the route. You are right in that BA’s flight could land back in LHR before the curfew. But how many onward connections would be available at that time? And what if the flight is delayed?
LUGANOPIRATE
It is all down to the onward connections. Swiss, for example, would not be profitable without transit passengers, and while they could put them up in hotels at Zurich, this would be problematic if visas were needed; besides which, most people just want to complete their journey. The night flight also means most passengers can take a late flight after their working day and connect onwards to arrive early morning. If you have a European and South African office, you don’t need to lose a full day's work.
KLM do have a day flight down to both JNB and Cape Town (CPT), and then return two hours later to land back in Amsterdam in the morning. Edelweiss Air also used to have a day flight back from CPT but their aircraft are mainly filled with Swiss resident passengers.
The 340s of Swiss are rotated, so while on the ground they get a thorough clean from top to bottom, as well as some minor maintenance. Same with Lufthansa, Air France and others.
CAPETONIANM
On the South Africa routes, most people prefer the overnight flights and dislike day flights. I’m the opposite – I love the day flight. Edelweiss are starting the northbound day flight on one service a week out of CPT later this month, 0830 1855. I’m on it in a couple of weeks.
BA789
I agree that most people prefer overnight flights for long-haul. I think British Airways tried to operate a day-flight back to London from JNB some years back, but this did not last very long. Given that most of the major cities in Western Europe only have a 1-2 hrs time zone difference with JNB and the European airports have curfews, there is no way around the long ground time in JNB.
The US airlines operate long-haul planes on domestic routes during the day before the overnight fights to Europe, Asia and Latin America, so their planes are constantly on the move. I think SAA does the same with their A330/340s – the planes operate domestic and regional flights during the day before the long-hauls overnight, but the European carriers do not have this option.
FLIGHTLEVEL
It's also available slots at either airport – and timings, of course. BA(2) to Hong Kong International arrives in the afternoon, and has to depart much later because of the curfew at LHR.
Qantas have similar problems and their A380s parked for much of the day at LHR, though recent Dubai schedules may have reduced parking. So they’ve returned to Singapore routing so park at LHR again!
BLUEMOONER
Air France A380 arrives at 1110 and departs at 1950, so they limit the time at JNB to 8 hours 40 minutes. So better aircraft management than others.
FDOS_UK
JNB is "hot and high" (at 1,680 metres), and potentially weight limited. Cooler evening departures allow more payload.
LUGANOPIRATE
Thanks for the heads up on the Edelweiss day flight, Capetonianm. Like you I also prefer day flights and in the good old days I’d break my flights to the East so each sector was, wherever possible, a day flight. BA also have a morning departure from New York.
A couple of times now leaving JNB on a very hot summer evening, our flight has been delayed as they offloaded some freight due to weight making them too heavy for the “hot and high” take off. Luckily it was done quickly, and despite a 30 minute delay, we still landed on time.
AMCWHIRTER
Bluemooner – well spotted. The reason is that although Paris CDG has a curfew it isn’t as strict as at Europe’s other main hubs. The situation at JNB also shows the advantages that the Gulf carriers enjoy. With no Gulf curfews they can spread their JNB services throughout the day and as the flight distance (JNB-Gulf) is shorter, they aren’t affected by “hot and high” weight limitations.
LUGANOPIRATE
The LX 288 from ZRH-JNB has twice been cancelled this week and instead flew down in the morning, returning same
evening. Must cost Swiss a small fortune with compensation plus accommodation for 200+ passengers.
CAPETONIANM
I noticed that and wondered why. I suppose the compensation might be partially offset by better aircraft utilisation. Also not everybody will claim compensation. Some don’t know they can, some don’t care, and some feel that if the airline handled and explained the delay properly they won’t claim. Also we don’t know the reason for the delay – it might be ‘exceptional and unavoidable’ circumstances.
LUGANOPIRATE
Usually when one of their aircraft scheduled to BKK or SIN goes tech, they substitute it with the JNB plane. They know they can get the plane to come back on schedule if it leaves in the morning and it goes a few hours after the other 340s get back. I think the other routes are more prestigious, and probably more profitable.