In defense of The Machine (MD88)
Why is DAL not ordering new aircraft and keeping gas guzzling MD88s and such? Well, may I present what I think is a fair comparison?
I went to Edmunds and did a comparison between a 2011 Toyota Prius and a 2005 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer series. "Is it worth trading in your gas guzzler?"
Gas Mileage Savings Calculator: Car Cost vs. Fuel Savings.
When you run the numbers it will take you 55 months to break even on purchasing a $30,000 Prius over a $9,800 Expedition. So it takes nearly 5 years to make a Prius pay off and that's not taking into account several additional factors that detract from making a purchase of a Prius:
1. The Expedition carries more people. On a 60 mile trip the Prius will give you a block burn that is a mere 33% of the Expeditions but count mileage per passenger seat and the Prius only burns 60% the gas of the Expedition or in other words instead of saving you nearly 70% it only saves you 40%.
2. Interests rates, taxes and opportunity costs with capital tie ups on a $30,000 car vs $9,800 car will be considerably higher, just imagine if we're talking million dollar jets,
3. A few years ago there were excessive premiums on new Prius especially with high gas prices, could there be premiums on "new and better" geared turbofans?
4. Prius accelerators? May have been people trying to scam Toyota for all I know but it points out the issue of teething pains and associated costs.
5. Lastly, and very importantly, mpg according to the Consumer Reports types put the Prius in the 45-50 mpg range. But the disgruntled Prius owner website (
Prius Owners Question Mileage Claims) only puts the fuel burn at 35mpg. What if these new jets turn out not to have the savings?
So add it all up, hang on to what you have even if the fuel numbers are not as ideal as aircraft that would cost you five or seven times more, because these airplanes buy you a lot of time to make a wiser long term decision.
We're talking about airplanes not available for a half decade at the earliest and that's before you take into account what happened to the A380 and 787. So that's probably a good decade to find out what's worth the money. By then we'll make such a purchase in mass we'll get good prices and none hamstrung by the premiums and early teething pains.
So I think this is good, but there is a catch, we can't let the BOD select future managers who don't squander the opportunities they'll be handed.