Saltlife85

Maybe you should stop listening to the 2nd floor “brains”. We have 3, maybe 4 airbuses that we’re from a foreign carrier. Cockpits are standardized across the fleet with some very minor exceptions.

GreatBigSea

There’s your problem, you assume people in management know what they’re talking about.

Mudhen200

Good to hear that the bus fleet is not that bad. What you are saying is the exact opposite of what the Boeing 2nd floor guys are saying, but since your butt is actually in the seat you ought to know.

Any idea what the average fleet age is of our busses?

And does anybody know anything about the NEO engine cycle limits? It's been a long time since the company put any info out about it. I can't wait to see that POS engine on a Max flying Southeast or the Arctic in the winter. Good times.

BTW - I haven't smoked anything since before you were probably born. I've been around the block a time or two and I would bet good money that the bus will have a relatively short career with an Eskimo on the tail. Check back in about 7 years and we will know.

AJ Crowley

The average age is young as perviously posted only a couple of 320 are used Middle East aircraft, the rest were all new from airbus. All the cockpits are VERY standardized with very small differences( weather radar, and a few other small differences).

The Leap 1A issue isn't a cycle issue, its an hour issue. The engine has to be replaced every 500 hours but GE covers all costs including downtime. The good news is the issue was corrected, and every new engine leaving the GE factory since June is fixed. The problem is GE can't produce enough, and almost all the engines leaving the factory go to new aircraft. Until they can catch up with production we are stuck swapping motors every 500 hours.

Protip: stop listening to the Boeing management guys as they are 100% clueless about the Bus. If you are on the 2nd floor, and want to hear about the Bus go find the Airbus fleet manager.

OCCP

I don’t know the exact dates of manufacture but the handful from the Middle East were only a few years old when they came to VX. I think the oldest plane in the fleet was built in 2005

VirginEskimo

I gotta agree with Mudhen. I’ll bet we’re not going to see the Eskimo on the Airbus’s tails in seven years time. Having said that, I doubt the Eskimo will be on any tails in seven years. I wonder what our next paint job is going to look like? The problem with being around the block several times is that the scenery never changes. I imagine that all of us are going to have to learn to roll with the punches. I never saw the Alaska merger coming, I suspect I’ll be just as surprised by the next boot to drop.

PNWFlyer

We are always the last to know. However, if American or Delta buy Jet Blue, guarantee the other one buys us the next day.

Then all that is left is Hawaiian (United Buys) and the LCCs (who cares what they do, but SWA most likely)

Then we are one big happy family of 4.

Best part of that, no one is 5th... unless no one wants Allegiant.

Beta82

Couple things. I’m not really sure the Leap1A(B) is a POS engine. It’s a brand new design with a lot of new technology that needs to be ironed out and it has. Is there anything in aviation that is new and just works amazing immediately? It takes time. The engine is super impressive. It burns considerably less fuel in every stage of the flight and for the 321 it carries 35 more people.

737 guys need to really think about the stuff that’s being said about the Airbus. I have talked to a lot of 73 guys that have just totally false information about the airplane. There seems to be a lot of misinformation spread about it from the management Boeing fanboys. Tech stops? There were only a handful over the 10 years at Virgin (spoiler alert every other airline flies 320s on transcons!) Odor events? Well that’s from not changing HEPA filters and using the wrong oil in the APU. Massive MELs because they are old? I would see an MEL maybe once a month before Alaska took over.

I don’t know what the second floor is but I would venture to say that anyone with a connection to legacy Alaska shouldn’t be consulted or believed about the fitness of the Airbus. Talk to a current Airbus pilot! There are serious conflicts of interest going on. We all can pretty much agree that there seems to be an effort to get rid of the Airbuses; which is a bummer, because they are superior airplanes in all the things that really matter to passengers. If you are skeptical go fly in the back of a 737 and then fly in the back of an Airbus. Flame on.

SkyKing466

+1 to what Beta said

What I don't understand either is why they even feel the need to trash talk the bus... Like all they really have to do is say, "we want fleet commonality because cost blah blah cost" and be done with it. Trashing our airplane all the time just adds salt to the wound and further divides us. Maybe that's part of the plan? Let's not fall for it and stay united.

737 is a great plane, A320 is also a great plane. Apples to apples. Now let's fix section 25 so we can spend more time at home.

rickair7777

All true.

Not hard to imagine how SEA people whose friends, husbands, wives, kids, and parents all work for Boeing would be spring-loaded to have an emotional prejudice against airbus.

The new engines (all manufacturers) bring the promise of great improvements on the technical merits. They also (all manufacturers) have significant teething problems which need to get resolved. Frnakly they got a little ahead of themselves in pursuit of enhanced performance. I think they're catching the glitches before they become safety problems, but there are certainly operational and economic ramifications.