Originally Posted by
TED74
I'm not joking at all.
My family has two cars, one is paid off and the other has a payment. This has zero effect on my choice of what to drive on any given road trip. We choose the one that matches our needs for each trip. I would think Delta matches aircraft capability and operating cost to our routes.
I always hear this "conventional wisdom" about paid off jets being easier to temporarily park and honestly doing understand it. Delta's profitability by aircraft matters not (unless I'm missing something).
You buy cars presumably for transportation, not to make money. They are a sunk cost, so they don't necessarily cost more if you use them or not (other than operating costs).
An airline acquires an aircraft as a money making investment. The payments are 10s of thousands of dollars per day, whether the airplane is in the air 0 hours or 24 hours. In the latter case it's making money, paying for itself and adding to the bottom line. If the need arises to park airplanes, parking an 88 cost nothing. Parking a 321 has a daily bill.
Having the ability to park a chunk of airplanes at no cost is an advantage. Being able to pull a bunch of airplanes out of parking at no cost is also an advantage. And yes, there is no such thing as "no cost," so low cost.
Delta is killing it, with a fleet mix that defies conventional wisdom. So I'd say someone in revenue knows what they're doing.