[esselle]

QR often operate A350 and 787 on DOH-DXB

[canucklad]

Don’t know if this counts ……

But I’ve regularly flown and often see above my village BA 767’s with club world seating fly the EDI to LHR route .
Back in the day, BD occasionally used their long haul configuration aircraft to fly between EDI and LHR.

When the 5 ,sorry any reading Italians, SIX nations comes around ,it’s not unusual to see the apron at EDI filled with wide bodies in the colours of EI and AF . In the days before FR and their consistently low cheap flights, the secret to bagging an ultra low cheap flight to Dublin and back was to research when EI rostered their 747’s to cross the Irish Sea. .It’s still done and is known as ” Doing the reverse fixture”

EDIT to add…….Now sadly resigned to history.but worth a mention. BA Shuttle passengers would very occasionally, on rare random dates ( Rod Stewart’s birthday/ Parliament opening etc) expect to board a Trident or latterly a 757 to look out the departure gate window and see a sleek,delta winged chariot awaiting them. In fact my mate who worked for BA at the time got prior notice that an aircraft change was happening and booked what must be the cheapest Concorde flight ever.

[ZKSmith]

Just to add that Turkish also use long haul aircraft to ATH, BCN, and MAD.
Esselle, the subject is in Europe, and it would probably be quicker to list Middle Eastern routes which aren’t served by widebodies given how common they are.

[NTarrant]

Have travelled LCA – LHR on long haul configuration 767, albeit a few years ago and old club world but very nice for the duration.

QR also use 330, 777, 787 on DOH-BAH

[BlackSkyuk]

I think Swiss fly an 777 from Prague to Zurich & Geneva to Zurich.

[esselle]

Thanks ZKSmith, but a 40 minutes or so it seems relevant.

[SimonS1]

Not sure it is relevant really….if we are including the Middle East then you could list everywhere Emirates flies to regionally as they don’t have small planes.

[NTarrant]

It is relevant to part of the debate, demonstrating that short journeys in any part of the world could be operated by long haul aircraft.

In esselle example DOH-DXB is only 7 miles more than LHR-AMS. Equally the example I gave of DOH-BAH is only 91 miles, less than SOU-JER by a long way.

To list all of the regional routes operate by EK would be irrelevant

[DanielRawson]

Not that relevant but am I right in thinking that BA used to sometimes surprise people and put a Concorde on the London to Manchester/Edinburgh shuttles?

[AMcWhirter]

DanielRawson – Absolutely. There were many times when BA used to operate Concorde on the domestic Shuttles.

As far as I remember, BA operated Concorde, at one time or another, to all four Shuttle destinations: EDI/GLA/MAN/BFS.

It was normally just one flight on a specific date.

But when it launched Super Shuttle (the upgraded version of the original Shuttle) in 1983, BA operated not just one but three Concordes on the London-Glasgow route in one day.

The event was captured in this historic picture:

http://www.fotothing.com/fotothinger/photo/68482e75ccbff4c1506a28706064c3b5/

But besides Concorde, BA would regularly roster B747s for some Shuttle flights at busy times. These would include Easter, Christmas, New Year and for major sporting events.

[esselle]

AM
BA also ran 777’s on LHR-CDG on a regular basis before the Tunnel opened, as it was then the busiest route in Europe.

[a_canadian_traveller]

Flew ATH-FCO on a Thai 747-400 around 1999/2000. Also, CDG-AMS on a Varig MD-11 around the same time. There was a time when Air Canada operated 767-200 aircraft between LHR and NCE (continuation of the YOW/YUL flight).

[SimonS1]

@NTarrant – I suspect the OP specifically put Europe in the thread title is its relatively uncommon in Europe. In Middle East it’s standard practice – all the Gulf airlines do it domestically and/or regionally.

It’s less common in Africa too but you do find SAA doing it sometimes on domestic flights.

[NTarrant]

SimonS1 – to say all the Gulf airlines do it is incorrect. Oman air rarely uses long haul aircraft on domestic or regional. Flynas, FlyDubai and Air Arabia never do.

[SimonS1]

Oman Air flies long haul planes to Dubai at least twice a day. A330s and sometimes 787.

I was excluding the locos from my comments but all the ‘full service’ airlines in the Gulf do it.

[Author]

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