Originally Posted by
Fly4hire
Why only 3 years? If the price of fuel below $90/bbl they are viable for years. While some are timing out on heavy check cycles, a substantial portion will still be good to 2020
Obviously they will be the first NB acft to be replaced, however 3 yrs sounds rather arbitrary - I think it will be more a factor of fuel, profit, lift required, and what kind of a deal we get/availability of a suitable replacement.
I also hope we get Compass and the 175 series as mainline jobs and staple those pilots where they belong.
All the DC-9's will require a major overhaul by 2012. As each airframe hits the hour limits they will be retired. This was restated recently. The company has no plans to put more money into the aircraft. There are issues beyond just the airframe costs for overhaul including the airspace changes and new approachs coming online along with increased noise standards. The question that still remains is can we get the company to put some replacement airframes at the mainline. So far the answer has been no.