Originally Posted by
FangsF15
Welllllll... While the oldest 319 is a 1999 delivery, that's only 2 of them. 7 more in 2000. Then 13 in '01, 22 in '02, and 13 in '03. So 48 of the 57 are at most 24 years old. 84% of them have at least a decade of life left in them, and every single one is getting CPDLC, Wx Radars, new FMS, Screens, and more. That hardware has been bought, paid for, and delivered. It's siting in crates in Tech Ops today.
319's ain't going anywhere for the foreseeable future. Full stop. And waaaaaaaay newer than almost the entire 75 fleet, the oldest of which is a 1990 delivery (as of my last check, which may be superseded recently).
I agree. And many of our 320s are going 34 years before we retire them, today. It wouldn't be out of the question to keep all 57 319s for another 10 years. Take those 1999-2021 frames, and put them through one last heavy check, and the sub-fleet is green time until mid 2030s. Obviously what actually happens depends on
when those birds come due for MX, and need for capacity looks good in 5 years. All the oldest fleets are low utilization, and can be early retired in a downturn. Add in the high CASM of a 319, and it would make sense to send them packing if the economy sucks in the early 2030s. I see a plan A and plan B scenario depending on the economy, which is a strategic fleet planning tactics we employ by design.