I was wondering. Southwest is flying just one type. I think easyJet does the same, don't they? And the notorious Ryanair, of course. But how many of those are there? How common is this business strategy. What other airlines fly just one type, be it narrow- or widebody? I'm only talking about airline with A LOT of the same airlines. I don't know where to draw the line. 50? 100? Let's make it 50+. And it doesn't matter which ones, be it Cessna... no, FedEx does not fly just ONE type... or a huge widebody.

A "side" question. How much money does it actually save? Is it really that cost-effective. Are different variants within one model so similar as to having fully interchangeable parts?

Spirit (112 planes) and Frontier (78 planes) are all A320/1 currently. Allegiant (58 Airbus with 27 more on order) will be all A320 soon and Sun Country (26 planes) is all B737. Porter (29 planes) is all Q400 and Republic (131 planes) is all E170/5

I would say the full list of airlines operating just one type of aircraft would be WAY too long. You're basically talking about 90% of the LCCs out there.

Airlines under AirAsia Group overall is single type (separating the AirAsia X variants). The "parent", AirAsia, is at 74x A320 and 16x A320neo. Then Thai AirAsia is at 50x A320 along with 6x A320neo. Jetstar Asia and Jetstar Pacific are both single type, although much smaller (18x A320 and 19x A320, respectively). There's also VietJet Air with 24x A320 and 26x A321 (along with their first A321neo). In China there's Spring with 77x A320.

In Brazil there's G3, at 27x B73G along with 92x B738.

It's a weird question honestly... since how small counts there can be hundreds...

Just in Canada i can think of Sunwing (738), Bearskin Airlines (Metro), EVAS (B1900D), Sky Regional (E175), Flair Airlines (734), probably a few more too... if we drop to less than 5 planes or sub 18 seat aircraft operators there are literally hundreds.

If you start including US regionals, you can add some other big players to the math. Republic operated (operates?) an essentially E-Jet only fleet, at over 150 aircraft. I'm sure there are other regionals up there in a single type as well.

Cargolux only operates the 747 (400F and 8F).

Transavia
HV: 8 737-700, 54 -800
TO: 28 737-800

Vueling
5/87/15 A319/A320/A321

BREECH wrote:

I was wondering. Southwest is flying just one type. I think easyJet does the same, don't they? And the notorious Ryanair, of course. But how many of those are there? How common is this business strategy. What other airlines fly just one type, be it narrow- or widebody? I'm only talking about airline with A LOT of the same airlines. I don't know where to draw the line. 50? 100? Let's make it 50+.

That's a good idea; make it 50+ so that you don't have anybody jumping in and listing countless smaller airlines with inconsequential fleets.

Oh dear, too late......

Edit; To be fair, there are more good answers than bad so far, but your 50+ fleet minimum definitely needs repeating. (which is why I've now mentioned it three times.)

SCQ83 wrote:

easyJet has A319, A320, recently A320neo, and soon A321neo. Wizzair has A320 and A321. VY has A319, A320 and A321. So depending on what you consider a type or a variant, there are differences.

Certainly Ryanair is king. Other than the 737-700 they use for training/corporate, every other plane (more than 400 and counting) is a 737-800. Ryanair must have the largest single-variant fleet in the world.

Airfleets show Southwest as having 502 of the 737-700 in the fleet. I knew Ryanair and Southwest had large fleets but I never looked at the numbers.

To me A319/A320/A321 is not one type.

I would have included Indigo, but they recently added ATR, but well they currently have 150 A320's

But on the other hand the B737 is considered one type, be it a -600, -700 or -800 variant. So I can understand the A319/A320/A321 is viewed as one type.

MartijnNL wrote:

But on the other hand the B737 is considered one type, be it a -600, -700 or -800 variant. So I can understand the A319/A320/A321 is viewed as one type.

The OP mentioned WN (Who operate both 73G and 738) and U2 (Both A319 and A320/32N. In fact, while they started with A319, they now have more A320 than A319), so I'm thinking at least from what OP is seeking, they 320 family variants are considered one type.

If not, about the closest you can get to "one type" really big airlines is Ryanair, with their sole 73G being used only for charter. Especially for LCCs operating A320 family, they tend to have a mixed fleet of A319/320, or A320/321. Making things more complicated is whether A320 and A320neo are the same type or not.

On a side note, though, looking through some fleets the number of really big airlines that operates a single type is smaller than I thought (Especially since IndiGo and SpiceJet both have props in their fleet). There are also cases like AirAsia Group, where AirAsia Berhad and AirAsia X Berhad, while being two separate companies, are highly affiliated with one another.

MartijnNL wrote:

To me A319/A320/A321 is not one type.

MartijnNL wrote:

But on the other hand the B737 is considered one type, be it a -600, -700 or -800 variant. So I can understand the A319/A320/A321 is viewed as one type.

The FAA (and I'm sure EASA as well) considers all A320 variants (A318-A321, including NEO) as one type, according to the Type Certificate Data Sheet:

http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_an ... Rev_34.pdf

WestJet was a single type (737NG) until they launched their Encore (Q400) and bought widebody 767. It's probably more common than you think.

Rex (Regional Express - Australia): 53 Saab 340s

Trump Shuttle was one, they had 21 727, Mr. Trump bought them from Eastern Airlines.

He didn't understand aviation business, and his company folded.


David

Plus Ultra is only composed of A343s

Iberia Express (IB2), x18 A320, x3 A321

Two more...although not quite 50+ fleet:

Sunstate Airlines (Australia): 31x Q400
Wideroe: 20x Q100, 3x Q200, 7x Q300, 11x Q400

An honorable mention from Australia is Alliance Airlines. Although it's not close to operating one type, their all-Fokker fleet (5x F50, 16x F70, 26x F100) is not something you see everyday at all.

MartijnNL wrote:

To me A319/A320/A321 is not one type.

Agreed. I wouldn't look at 737-700 and -800 as the same type netheir.

I could only say Ryanair off the top of my head as an only true single type operator at this point in time. All that will change with the 737MAX200 however.

Interestingly, at one time QF was an all-747 operator.

We can name lots of all-737 or all-A320 operators. Try naming a carrier that is all of another type of airplane.

I think in the late 1970s, PSA was an all-727 operator. That was post-737 and L-1011, and pre-MD-80.

Not sure if AS was ever all-727s - maybe after the 707 and prior to the MD-80 and 737.

SCQ83 wrote:

easyJet has A319, A320, recently A320neo, and soon A321neo. Wizzair has A320 and A321. VY has A319, A320 and A321. So depending on what you consider a type or a variant, there are differences.

Certainly Ryanair is king. Other than the 737-700 they use for training/corporate, every other plane (more than 400 and counting) is a 737-800. Ryanair must have the largest single-variant fleet in the world.

I actually didn't know that! Looked it up, and you're right! Southwest has more one variant number of airplanes (737-700) but Ryanair have the largest single variant fleet. How interesting! I knew asking this at this forum would fetch some cool results! Thank you.

ro1960 wrote:

Cargolux only operates the 747 (400F and 8F).

50+ of them?

SheikhDjibouti wrote:

BREECH wrote:

I was wondering. Southwest is flying just one type. I think easyJet does the same, don't they? And the notorious Ryanair, of course. But how many of those are there? How common is this business strategy. What other airlines fly just one type, be it narrow- or widebody? I'm only talking about airline with A LOT of the same airlines. I don't know where to draw the line. 50? 100? Let's make it 50+.

That's a good idea; make it 50+ so that you don't have anybody jumping in and listing countless smaller airlines with inconsequential fleets.

Oh dear, too late......

Edit; To be fair, there are more good answers than bad so far, but your 50+ fleet minimum definitely needs repeating. (which is why I've now mentioned it three times.)

FIFTY PLANES OR MORE, PEOPLE! FIFTY+! 50+!!! We don't accept bids under that number.

Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 family are the obvious winners. But I don't see (here or elsewhere) an airline operating multiple single-type widebodies. I don't think I know any such airline. Even if you drop the entrance threshold to 25-30, you won't get any widebodies. Yes, I remember Scoot but they only had six 777s.

Just thinking about it gives me shivers, though. Imagine operating an airline with a fleet of A330s or A350s in different variants. Cooler still - with just one variant thereof (A350-900 for instance) but I don't think it's even possible. And I just remembered someone mentioned Qantas only had 747s for a while, so it may be.

May I also draw the attention of some more serious participants to the second half of my topic? Is it REALLY that profitable to operate just one type?

BREECH wrote:

ro1960 wrote:

Cargolux only operates the 747 (400F and 8F).

50+ of them?

26.

At a time where a.netters are shedding tears as the 747 is being retired, I thought this will cheer them up.

BREECH wrote:

Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 family are the obvious winners. But I don't see (here or elsewhere) an airline operating multiple single-type widebodies. I don't think I know any such airline. Even if you drop the entrance threshold to 25-30, you won't get any widebodies. Yes, I remember Scoot but they only had six 777s.

AirAsia X (22x A333) is the closest I can think of. Scoot pre-merger is 16x B787. Norwegian Long Haul right now is at 13x B787.

As for this part:

BREECH wrote:

May I also draw the attention of some more serious participants to the second half of my topic? Is it REALLY that profitable to operate just one type?

You can't really say that it is profitable bc an airline operate one type of aircraft only (Plenty of LCCs lose money). The general consensus (since I'm certainly not sitting in a board room or something similar) is that it lower the cost due to less training required for flight crews, ground crews, maintenance crews, etc. Less cost = easier to make a profit, but doesn't guarantee you will make a profit.

zakuivcustom wrote:

AirAsia X (22x A333) is the closest I can think of. Scoot pre-merger is 16x B787. Norwegian Long Haul right now is at 13x B787.

Someone is going to call you out on this. They said 50+!!!!

ro1960 wrote:

zakuivcustom wrote:

AirAsia X (22x A333) is the closest I can think of. Scoot pre-merger is 16x B787. Norwegian Long Haul right now is at 13x B787.

Someone is going to call you out on this. They said 50+!!!!

Meh...the OP mentioned 25-30 widebodies, so it is somewhat close to that number

On a side note, the OP also has to realized many airlines doesn't even have 50 planes total

reffado wrote:

If you start including US regionals, you can add some other big players to the math. Republic operated (operates?) an essentially E-Jet only fleet, at over 150 aircraft. I'm sure there are other regionals up there in a single type as well.

There are. Endeavor is around 150 as well, all CRJ, as is PSA (around 120 frames). A couple others are 50+ of one type as well (Compass is 50+ and not just all E-Jet but all E175, GoJet is all CRJ and also 50+).

Continental was all boeing excluding the express fleet. This was after like 2003 or so.