These are troublesome times, for pilots as well. Being grounded you still need to pay the bills. Some have found a way to put their knowledge to the use of flight-simmers. Petter Hörnfeldt - aka Mentour Pilot - has a few real life pilots that can be "rented" to give you advice on all sort of things. See here: https://www.Mentourpilot.com/store/

There are 737 and airbus drivers.

Might be of interest to someone.

Best regards,

Jan W.

 

While not wanting to mess with  the income of people trying to make ends meet at the  moment,I find myself at a bit of a lose end for the next few months, and I won’t be the only one here. So, as always, any such questions just ask and it won’t cost you a penny (unless I start getting desperate!)

 

been checking FlightRadar24 the last few days and there is always about 6000 to 6500 planes showing up.  Some pilots are still working.

John Cottreau

It's been reported that these aircraft crisscrossing the sky are basically devoid of passengers.  How long do you think the airlines, big and small, can or will keep this up?  

Edited March 29, 20206 yr by overspeed3

23 minutes ago, overspeed3 said:

It's been reported that these aircraft crisscrossing the sky are basically devoid of passengers.  How long do you think the airlines, big and small, can or will keep this up?  

That depends on the long term investment plans each airline has and how big the bank roll is which is backing that up. But keep in mind that an airliner with no passengers can still be flying cargo. Not much cargo it is true, but it's on board most airliners a lot of the time. Without the weight of passengers and their luggage, an airliner won't use anywhere near as much fuel as when it is loaded with them. It isn't going to be peanuts to fly them around, but it will be considerably less expensive than such a flight would normally be with its regular payload.

When we get to the other side of the crisis, any airline which has managed to stay in the game will be in a position to gain some slots from others which fell by the wayside, have lost, and that will be around about the time where the summer schedules are at a peak. It's worth being aware too, that in many places, the slots and routes which airlines have are contingent upon them being operated, i.e. 'if you don't use em, you lose em'. So there is that too.

I'm not saying it isn't a problem for the airlines and related industries, it absolutely is, but there are the aforementioned factors to consider too which means some airliners are going to continue flying around even when it would appear that they don't need to.

"Use it or lose it" slot restrictions in the EU were lifted a few weeks ago https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/pr/2020-03-13-02/.

That's why there's so many aircraft parked up around the world...

The only ones operating are doing whatever flights they can (legally) do or mercy/repatriation flights.

The real question is more to do with when this has all passed, how quickly will people want to fly (or more specifically, go somewhere) again and how quickly can the airlines get those flights back up and running. The winners will be the one's who can survive the lockdowns and get back on their feet again the quickest.

5 hours ago, Chock said:

...It isn't going to be peanuts to fly them around, but it will be considerably less expensive than such a flight would normally be with its regular payload...

and as we all know - Boxes don't complain!! 

Everyone needs a holiday now and again, but no one needs to hop on a jet to do so. However, cargo flights, movement of essential personnel and humanitarian flights should continue. Just my opinion.

I guess that having pax versions shifting cargo would offer a lot more logistical flexibility in that there are more "delivery trucks" available, even if the loads are limited. Almost a win-win.