Originally Posted by
coast in
There is no history of US top tier mainline carriers flying aircraft for 40 years. It’s never happened. Northwest Airlines flew their DC-9’s to 35 years and probably ended up regretting it. I can’t even imagine opening up a 40 year old 767 for an invasive D Check. As far as comparing a 35 year old mainline 767 that flies around the clock 24/7 with a C5, N641UA has over 130,000 hrs on her, your average USAF C5 flys about 80 hrs a month. Guy/gals please do your research before posting on here, UAL is absolutely ready to replace every single 767 and 777-200 with a 787, they just cant get them fast enough…I get what you guy want to happen, I lived 14 years of my life on the 75/76, still my favorite, but time marches on, sadly.
I wasn’t trying to say that it’s ideal to keep an aircraft for 40 years. What I meant to say is 40 is probably the limit. Yes there are older planes flying with cargo even FedEx has gotten over 50. It can be done, it’s not ideal. I’m saying that probably all the 777s will be gone between 35-40 years of age and the 767s will do the same. I’m not advocating for keeping the 76 because it’s “cool”. I just meant if the numbers work and the airlines want to keep them there’s nothing saying that they won’t keep them for 40 years. In my opinion these airplanes will be shed from the fleet during the next downturn. Just like during Covid there was a mass retiring of the oldest aircraft flying in the US.