Originally Posted by
coast in
The mid 1990's UAL A320's are probably the second least reliable fleet in the airline, after the early 1990's 767-300's. These aircraft aren't being 'parked', they are being retired. This nothing new in the Airline world.
And the airline has a replacement plan including replacing the A320s with MAX’s and A321s as many have said. Not so for the 767-300s at least in the near term so they are worth the higher maintenance costs while waiting on the 787 production rate to recover. And United is not shrinking yet. UA has added 22 mainline aircraft in 2025 and just sent the first two A320s to the desert.
Here is an interesting bit on aircraft retirement.
https://blog.sourceonespares.com/exp...in%20Lifespans