I think Swissair (before they ceased operations) operated the 737 classic. But I can't recall Swiss International ever operating the 737.

Nope, Swiss were with Douglas the whole time, then they went direct to Airbus. However they do lease a 737 (a BBJ2 variant) from afforementioned Privat Air for these flights.There is a PrivatAir repaint for the 800 back on page 121 of the livery thread here, and there is a fictional Swiss International Air Lines repaint of the 737-800 available on request from me (and from Avsim once I decide that it is complete and up to my standarts)

thank you all for the info... going to try the newark / zurich route with the above config and hope for a nice tail wind!!

My mate is an SFO with a European carrier, he regularly ferries the shiney new 800NGs from Seattle to London, they have made it direct every time so far, of course the aircraft is empty bar them and the fuel!Quick check on routefinder shows this as 4950 NM, they plan for Shannon with the diversion as Gatwick

kand: this is routine for operators in WesternEurope. With right circumstances, 737-700 made it as far as LZIB.For a successful record setting flight you want good winds, obviously, and, at least in real life, low temperature at departure airport (so you can cram more fuel into the tanks) and as many directs as possible. When they were flying 737 to LZIB, they got a direct from somewhere in Norwegian airspace all the way down to Bratislava.

PrivatAir operates on behalf of several airlines. http://www.privatair.com/section/current-services They used to operate on behalf of KLM on a EHAM-KIAH-EHAM route.

Since when does Swiss have a 737?

Privatair operated a 737-800 for Swiss Airlines.

In fact you are so spot-on with what you have written, there is fact a nice worthy read by an ex-American Airlines 767 Captain called 'Golden Argosy' by Capt Tony Vallillo. I was first pointed towards it in the LDS767 Forum. Sorry, do not have the link.

http://www.flightsim...ure/argosy1.htmIs that it? I shall have a read! :)Best regards,Robin.

As has been said, that is not a standard SWI flight. It is a Privat Air flight for SWI, using a BBJ2 with extra tanks...I have seen the Privat Air aircraft from time to time in Germany, they are regularly in DUS... must be a nice service... not for my pocket unfortunately...Andrew

Is that it? I shall have a read! :)

Yes.

Here is the schedule for the Swiss flight op. by Privat Air in all Business Class config.(all times local).KEWR 22:40LSZH 11:30+1LSZH 17:00KEWR 21:20Fare for next weekend Dep. 3/22, Ret. 3/25 = $7415.00 (in case any one is intersted to going to Munich for the 777 preview)As you can see it is N/S both directions, I believe they have additional auxillary fuel tanks installed in the cargo hold to enable the WB nonstop (but I could be wrong about that).

A good way to work out the ammount of baggage your passengers take I read on a forum (cant remember which) but essentially;Passengers: 140 x 1.2 (bags per person)Ammount of bags: 16825lb per bag: 4200For working out how much to distribute between the forward and aft compartments, you want 40% in the forward cargo hold and 60% in the rear so in my example this would be:Aft. 2520lbs (4200x0.6)Forward 1680lbs (4200x0.4)This is the method I use every single time I fly the ngx, but I do not take credit for this as I say I read it in a forum. it works wonders having a realistic payload!You can load these exact figures into topcat vroute fsc and so on you can get a really acurate fuel load and loading it in the ngx is very easy and well done thanks PMDG! With these weights you should be pretty close to maximum range on a good day (wind, temps and so on)

There are VERY big differences between airlines and general type of flights, regarding how much baggage is "typical".I can not talk about the US, but there is nowhere near 1.2 bags per pax intra Europe. Even charters only have about 0.7 bags per pax IIRC. With scheduled carriers it will be even less, for legacy/flag carriers will cater mainly to one-day-turn business types, who like to travel with only carryons, while LCCs either have those (on some routes) or mix them with "euroweekend" types who will just as well pack into the carryon as not to pay the fee. I expect there to be 0.3-0.6 bag per pax at scheduled flts, depending on route and airline.

So the aircraft with the greatest "endurance" (notice I say endurance- not range) would be the 737-600 right? Smallest gross weight with the most fuel capacity.

Should be so, at least disregarding all ER and BBJ variants.