Flying Globespan Long-Haul? Trouble ahead..

Sam_Bee

If you've booked long haul on Globespan, be wary of changes.

They have lost their ETOPS rating, which in normal parlance means they cannot fly further than 1 hour away from an airport. Which means that their flights from Liverpool to New York are having to make additional re-fueling stops in Newfoundland en-route to New York (as well as a stop in Knock). Scotland - Canada flights should be unaffacted, but there will be big knock on effects to timings & reliability.

Expect to see them change / cancel flights, and a possible retreat to Scottish Airports.

If you're booked on them to fly soon, check and double check your departure times.

This should not affect any European flights they run.

bagand96

I've read this elsewhere, although is there anything that can be classified as a reliable source?

zolablue25

How can you fly from Scotland to Canada and stay less than 1 hour from an airport?

Sam_Bee

zolablue25 wrote: »

How can you fly from Scotland to Canada and stay less than 1 hour from an airport?

Lookie here: http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=GLA+-+YVR&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=&MAP-STYLE=&ETOPS=60

Everywhere in light blue is within 1 hour of an airport. It's quite difficult to get your head round as we are used to 'flat maps', not globes!

Bagand - Only from 'friends' of 'friends!' - I havn't seen in print anywhere?

But I can definitely say the flights from Liverpool to JFK now have 2 stops for the rest of the month - Knock & Newfoundland, which confirms what I had heard. Maybe they will sublease other planes soon, but I would be very wary their already stretched schedule could deal with the additional stops and cost.

And the Customers. Liverpool - New York with 2 stops, or Manchester - New York 3 hours quicker.

curtlyb

why have they lost their ETOPS rating ????

bagand96

Sam_Bee wrote: »

Bagand - Only from 'friends' of 'friends!' - I havn't seen in print anywhere?

Yeah I had heard it via similar sources, just wondered if anything was official...

curtlyb wrote:

why have they lost their ETOPS rating ????

I haven't heard the reason; and don't want to speculate, but the only way to loose one would to have it revoked by the CAA. The only reason that would happen would be if the CAA weren't happy with Globespan's ETOPS operations for some reason. ETOPS rules are very strict.

jonesMUFCforever

I know this might sound stupid but what is ETOPS please?

d123

ejones999 wrote: »

I know this might sound stupid but what is ETOPS please?

http://gc.kls2.com/faq.html#$etops

Er, what is an ETOPS?

ETOPS is an acronym for Extended-Range Twin-Engine Operations. Without an ETOPS rating, an aircraft with only two engines must be able to get to an airport where it can safely land within 60 minutes if an engine fails in-flight. ETOPS extends this "rule time" to 90 minutes or more, up to a maximum of 180 minutes. Obtaining an ETOPS rating requires certification of the reliability of an airframe/engine combination as well as an airline's flight operations and maintenance. Usually extra equipment is required as well, such as additional backup systems for electrical power. ETOPS does not require over-water equipment (e.g., life rafts) or additional fuel tanks, though these are usually required for the typical missions of ETOPS-rated aircraft.
Some pilots claim ETOPS really means "Engines Turn Or Passengers Swim." :-)

Dave

crystal64

When i returned from canada with globespan 25th September all the crew staff had received e-mails the night before stating their contact was up 31st October that was staff from liverpool and manchester so glasgow and edinburgh are okay at the moment their must be problems

shammyjack

More info from a reliable source.
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3640074#post3640074

bagand96

Just to update this, with a reliable source, the Beeb are now running a story on it...

Airline has license suspended

This is the first time the CAA have withdrawn an ETOPS license in 15 years, and they also say "we do not do it lightly". However they do say it is temporary (presumably they are giving Globespan chance to get their house in order).