Ferry flights form the backbone of modern aviation. Roughly 60% of the world’s commercial fleet is leased from leasing companies, with leasing companies having fleets of hundreds to thousands of aircraft which they lease out to airlines all over the world. Delivering and repositioning of those leased aircraft is done through ferry flights: empty flights with one more stopovers to get the aircraft to its destination.
Are these ferry flights limited to leased aircraft only? No, certainly not. Any company that needs an aircraft repositioned does so via ferry flights (of course there are exceptions to this).
To explore this world of ferrying I will be starting project Vikings: a fictional ferry company called Vikings Aviation, callsign “Vikings”, which will operate ferry flights on behalve of leassors, airlines and maintenance companies and bring their aircraft from A to B as realistically as possible.
One of the biggest factor for realism will be not using the teleportation feature in Infinite Flight. Vikings Aviation will be based at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS/EHAM) so all trips must start and end there. Ferrying an aircraft from New York to Los Angeles? I must first fly to New York to pick-up the plane and fly back to Amsterdam after landing in Los Angeles. One exception would be if I were to schedule back-to-back Ferry Flights, but I must travel everywhere I go.
Here are some other rules/guidelines for this project:
- Realistic Routing: Fuel is expensive, to keep costs as low as possible the route planning must be done with the economics in mind. Additionally, the stopovers made during the flight must make sense; KJFK as a stopover from Europe to Arizona is not realistic due to the high costs.
- Range: some aircraft in-game have what seems like unlimited range. Flights that can realistically be done non-stop will be done so, otherwise a stopover will be added.
- No passengers and cargo on-board. Ferry flights are usually empty with the exception to crew members and their luggage.
- Destination choice: The departure and origin of the aircraft must make sense; no Ryanair flights from Los Angeles to Singapore, why would such a livery make that trip?
Ferry flights come in many different shapes and forms. However, to keep things simple I will be focussing on 3 types of ferry flights for this project. Below is an overview of the 3 types I’ll mainly be focussing on:
- Delivery Flights bring aircraft to the customer with the intend to utilize the aircraft. These flights can be directly from the factory, from a maintenance location, the homebase of the previous operator or a storage facility (after long-term storage an aircraft is usually first put through extensive maintenance to get it back in the air again).
- Maintenance Flights ferry aircraft to maintenance facilities where an aircraft may receive their regular checks, cabin refit, a repaint, conversion to cargo aircraft or something like that. These flights often take place between two different operators or after long-term storage.
- Storage Flights bring aircraft from all over the world to storage facilities. These facilities are usually situated in dry climates to avoid corrosion and other complications when storing an aircraft for sometimes years. Aircraft are sent to storage airports after a lease is returned while waiting for a new customer, when demand is low (for example the COVID-19 pandemic) or when the aircraft is being retired.
Suggestions on which routes and aircraft to fly are always welcome. Within the ferry world there are almost unlimited possibilities for flights to do so feel free to get creative. Of course, all routes that I fly need to be as realistic as possible, so keep this in mind when submitting a suggestion.
Here’s a link to a Google Sheets with all completed, current and future trips: Vikings Aviation - Google Sheets
In this thread, I will be posting the progress of Project Vikings. If you feel inspired to do some ferry flying too, head over to the link above and choose a mission to your liking and enjoy the ride. See you all in the skies!
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001 - Ryanair Supply
Vikings Aviation’s first mission will involve 2 former Southwest B738’s which will be delivered to Ryanair’s base at Dublin, Ireland. Due to the slow delivery of the MAX aircraft, Ryanair has opted to lease a few B738’s to minimise the impact the delayed deliveries have on their operations.
Details:
- Departure airports: Tucson and Houston Hobby
- Arrival Airport: Dublin
- Airframe: 2x Southwest B738
- Stopover: Bangor, Maine
On the map below the entire mission has been mapped out; blue are the outbound flights (to the pick-up airport), red is the ferry flight and green is the flight back to base.
From EHAM we will be flying on a direct flight to Houston on-board the KLM A333. After arrival we hop in a car across town towards Houston Hobby Airport where we take the Southwest B738 towards Dublin with a fuel stop and customs clearance in Bangor, Maine. This part of the mission is scheduled to be completed on October 1st, if all goes to plan.
After arrival in Dublin, we’ll hop in an Aer Lingus A333 over to Los Angeles followed by a Delta CRJ700 flight to Tucson. Our second Southwest B738 will be waiting for us on the ramp, takeoff to Bangor for some fresh fuel and cross the Atlantic bound for Dublin again. After arrival in Dublin for the second time we will board a KLM B737 for a short hop back to base. The full mission will be completed on October 8th if all goes as planned.
Let’s get these 737’s across the Atlantic!
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Woutopia ‘Steve Giordano’
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I did get this idea while re-watching all 21 episodes, happy to meet a fellow fan!
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Love the concept, heavily inspired by speedtapefilms offcourse. I’m also a huge fan, watched every episode.
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First Flight Completed
Vikings Aviation’s first mission has been completed. 2 second hand B738’s have been delivered to Ryanair’s base in Dublin from Tucson and Houston. Here’s an quick overview of the mission:
Evening departure from Amsterdam in the KLM A333 bound for Houston where we will pick-up one of the Southwest B738’s. Flighttime was 9hr 40mins with an on-time arrival in Houston. After a short car ride we arrive at Houston’s second airport, Hobby Airport, where our Southwest B738 was already waiting for us.
Quick walk-around of the aircraft to make sure the aircraft is ready for its long flight to Dublin with a stop in Bangor.
Bangor is an ideal stopping point for aircraft flying from the US to Europe or the other way around: it is a small airport meaning cheaper landing and handling fees while still having all facilities to handle a flight like this and it is perfectly located en-route. After landing in Bangor a quick turn-around was done to get the aircraft ready for the 6 hour flight over the Atlantic.
After a total flighttime of 9hrs and 11mins we pull into the maintenance stand at Dublin Airport. One of the 2 has been delivered! We don’t have a lot of time on the ground at Dublin though, our ride back to the US is already waiting for us at the gate: Aer Lingus A333 to Los Angeles.
The flight went smooth and after a flight of 10hrs 29mins we pull into the gate at Los Angeles. Next flight would be the Delta CRJ700 to get me to Tucson, Arizona where the second B738 was parked.
The commute to Tucson only took 1hr 02mins. The Southwest aircraft in the gorgeous Heart Livery was waiting for us at the long-term parking stand of Tucson, ready for the 9hr and 48min flight over to its new owner.
The departure out of Tucson was beautiful, the sandy desert below and the mountains certainly never disappoint.
This flight would also be landing in Bangor for a re-fueling stop before making the oceanic crossing to Europe. As we were incredibly light the entire flight, we were able to fly at FL410 for the entire journey from Tucson over to Dublin. There are no passengers and cargo on-board resulting in a very light aircraft. Our landing weight at Dublin for example was only 39.500kg, usually that would be above 50.000kg when passengers are on-board. Due to the light weight of the aircraft, the landing speed was 127kts with flaps 30.
After arrival in Dublin at the Ryanair Hanger it was time to say goodbye to the stunning dark blue B738’s and head back home. The ride home was be on a KLM B737 and only took 1hr 02mins (same as the CRJ flight).
And with that, the first mission has been completed: 2 Southwest B738’s delivered to Dublin where they will soon enter service with Ryanair. Next mission will be a double-service all the way around the world, stay tuned!
