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Why Did So Many Airlines Dump Thier Older Equip?

Cancidas From Poland, joined Jul 2003, 4112 posts, RR: 15
Posted (8 years 5 months 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 1466 times:

after 9-11, many airlines here in the US got rid of thier older equipment, only to start buyin up new equip a few years later. to me the move seems somewhat pointless. they are now paying off thier new planes while they could have just been flying the ones they owned totally, like NW with thier DC-9s. can anyone explain?

"...cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home."

3 replies: All unread, jump to last

Startvalve From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR:
Reply 1, posted (8 years 5 months 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 1441 times:

Because it was expensive to fly and maintain.

An example is the 727. Maintain a possibly 30yr old airframe. Maintain 3 yes 3 very expensive engines. Pay 3 people to sit up front. Also deal with all the demons and gremlins any mechanical and electrical object that age probably has. Also chances are heavy maintenance is on the near horizon for a few of these at any time in a larger fleet. Say you replace it with a brand new 737. You have 2 very expensive engines to maintain. 2 people flying it (sorry flight engineers) and your heavy maintenance is not going to be needed for a few years.

On the accounting side the downside to a new airplane is not only are you making the payments on it you are also eating the depreciation which really is hard on your bottom line. Sometimes this looks better though because the new asset actually has some value as opposed to a 30 yr old 727 which shows up on a balance sheet as having a value near 0.

Futureualpilot From United States of America, joined exactly 12 years ago today! , 2445 posts, RR: 8
Reply 2, posted (8 years 5 months 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 1401 times:

Startvalve hit the nail on the head basically. After 9-11, its all about saving as much $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ as you can and trying to stay afloat, also why the airlines made so many employee cuts and wage cuts as well.

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Slamclick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10039 posts, RR: 75
Reply 3, posted (8 years 5 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1341 times:

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Could also be mentioned that there was a big FAA push underway at the time relating to "aging fleet" issues. Corrosion, minor cracking, wire chafing and on and on are all symptoms found in older airplanes. The FAA and the media were putting ever more pressure to retire these old planes. DC-9 is a wonderful airplane but every time one blows a tire there is going to be "aging fleet" discussion in the press and in Congress.

Along comes 9-11 and most carriers had to downsize or scale back a bit anyway. Obvious choice to go sit in the desert in the plane that is going to be scheduled for more frequent and deeper inspections and ever-higher maintnance costs.

New airplane designs also burn less fuel. That is going to be a big driver for a long time to come.

Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.

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