Gibberish From Switzerland, joined Sep 2000, 424 posts, RR: 2 Posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 1075 times:
Why is it that most low-fare, no-frills airlines operate an all 737 fleet? Southwest, Ryanair and EasyJet all do. Is it an aircraft which gets maintained for less money or what?
Cfalk From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 1026 times:
Rugged, bulletproof design. Interesting that the A320 has not had similar success in this segment. The A320 is supposed to be slightly more fuel-efficient than the 733, but I wonder if that is not offset by higher maintainance requirements?
Jwenting From Netherlands, joined Apr 2001, 10213 posts, RR: 21 Reply 3, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 1007 times:
Another major factor is the availability of 737s on the used aircraft market. There are many old 737-300s for sale from airlines upgrading to the NGs, and those are far cheaper than having to go to Airbus for a brand new A320. That may change now that Swissair and Sabena (both large AB customers) are dead and their fleets likely to hit the market.
Penguinflies From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 975 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 949 times:
SWA was flying before Airbus' were manufactured.
SWA had the choice between the 737 or DC-9 (basically).
EasyJet and Go were based of the "success" of SWA's philosophy, modified for their respective markets.
SWA was started with brand new planes back in 197x.
Lowfareair From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 7, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 920 times:
Pengiunflies: EasyJet didn't choose the 737 over the A320 because of efficiency or MX costs, they chose it because that's what they could get for the money. Remember that EZY started with a lone 732 a rich Greek bought with money his Dad gave him.
Go on the other hand, was trying to copy off of EZY, so they too invested in 737s.
Ceilidh From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 914 times:
Interestingly, the aircraft with the best economics is actually the B757 but it's just a bit too big for the low cost market.
And Lowfareair, EZY used 737s which were leased from IAG using GB Airways' AOC because they were following Southwest's business plan. And they started with two aircraft, not one!
Ryanair was also copying Southwest, so they too used 732s initially - acquired from Britannia, as I recall. Prior to that, they had used BAC1-11s.
BlatantEcho From United States of America, joined Sep 2000, 1869 posts, RR: 1 Reply 13, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 782 times:
fwiw, WN tried out 727s also, for just a bit anyway, not just DC-9s and 732s. There was a pic in Airliners back a year ago or so.
Prebennorholm From Denmark, joined Mar 2000, 6019 posts, RR: 55 Reply 14, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 772 times:
If we look at other low fare airlines, for instance the European charter airlines, then you see everything ranging from 25 years old A300s to brand new A320 and A330. And in between aged A320s and loads of A310s. Alongside B737s/757s of all ages including 737NG.
So I don't think that any such conclusions can be made. It's just coincidental - and of course helped by the fact that 737 is the most common airliner type, and it has been around for so many years.
Regards, Preben Norholm
Always keep your number of landings equal to your number of take-offs, Preben Norholm
CactusA319 From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 2918 posts, RR: 29 Reply 17, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 735 times:
The new Frontier started out as an all-737 operator and is switching to all-Airbus
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