From: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM (Karl Swartz)
Subject: Re: Aircraft Age
Organization: Chicago Software Works
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 09:21:39 GMT

In article <HROSE.92Sep28162927@rocza.eff.org> hrose@eff.org (Helen Trillian Rose) writes:
>Kraig> == Kraig R. Meyer <kmeyer@aero.org> 

> Kraig> Average Age of the Fleets of Major U.S. Airlines (as of First
> Kraig> Quarter 1992)
>
> Kraig> TWA			18.0 years
> Kraig> Northwest		16.2 years
> Kraig> Continental		14.4 years
> Kraig> United			11.5 years
> Kraig> USAir			10.2 years
> Kraig> American		 9.2 years
> Kraig> Southwest		 6.9 years
> Kraig> America West		 6.6 years

>Northwest surprises me quite a bit. They're overhauling their fleet
>(unfortunately with A320s) but have quite a few 757s, a substantial
>747-400 order (some of which have been delivered, some that they're
>still waiting on). Admitted, they have one of the largest DC-9 fleets
>(remnants of Republic) in the country, but does it make *that* big of a
>difference?

Yes, it does.  Looking at the latest JP and counting aircraft and
rough (very rough!) average age for the smaller jets:

    A320	 35 @ 1.5 years
    DC-9-14/15	 30 @ 25
    DC-9-31/32	 77 @ 23
    DC-9-41	 12 @ 24
    DC-9-51	 28 @ 14.1
    MD-82	  8 @ 10
    727-51	  3 @ 27.5
		---
		193 @ 17.7

With 122 aircraft in groups that average well over twenty years old,
the relatively small number of A320s just doesn't carry enough weight
to make much difference.  The 727-251s are right around the average as
are the DC-10s; there just aren't enough 757s or 747-451s to make that
big a splash.

>Continental has tons of old 737s (-200's). This doesn't surprise me.

And 14 -100s (-130s to be precise)!  Must be the biggest fleet of
these little guys anywhere.  Not as many DC-9s as I had expected to
see, though.

>United is about "average" -- adding new 737s and 747s (plus 767s) while
>phasing out their older stuff (no more United DC-8s :)

Also boatloads of 757s (~60 delivered in two years, with 30 on order
and 60 more on option), the first batch of which replaced those
DC-8s -- is that a smile at them being gone?!  That hurts -- I miss
them as I flew them a lot and they were problem the most comfortable
single-aisle aircraft in United's fleet.

In all, United's fleet age is taking a dramatic turn for the newer,
as American's has done over the past few years.  Last May they took
delivery of three new 737s in less than a week's time, and their
original 737s are finally starting to be retired.  Several times I
have been on month-old aircraft on the SFO-LAX shuttle, and often
lately I've seen brand-new 767-322(ER)s, which wouldn't normally be
at SFO unless they'd just been delivered.

>USAir is adding alot of modern 737s and using them for shuttle service
>up and down the Northeast.

And the new terminal at Pittsburgh!  I wonder if they've upgraded the
service too or if it's still what I always knew and hated.  (As one
friend calls them, M-I-C-K-E-Y  M-O-USAir!  :-) )

>I'm kind of surprised American's fleet is this young. Admitted, they've
>been adding 757s and 767s like it's going out of style, but their main
>trunk aircraft are still DC-10's.

They have only 49 DC-10-10s and 10 DC-10-30s, averaging maybe 15 years
old.  Compare that to about 260 MD-82/83s with an average age of about
6 years.  By seats, the DC-10s are perhaps the backbone of the fleet,
but an average age based simply on airframe counts is swamped by all
of those "little" planes that feed the DC-10s with passengers from all
the Podunks of the world.

>Southwest is no surprise. They've launched two 737 models in the past
>ten years. That's the only aircraft they fly. I think they've ditched
>all of their 737-200's (I'd have to check my JP to be sure).

They only launched the -500, though they were an early and eager buyer
of the -300 (which was launched by USAir).  They've still got a fair
number of -200s but it seems to me they recently sold most if not all
of them and leased them back for a few years.

-- 
Karl Swartz	|INet	kls@ditka.chicago.com
1-415/854-3409	|UUCP	uunet!decwrl!ditka!kls
		|Snail	2144 Sand Hill Rd., Menlo Park CA 94025, USA
"Unix is a fractal thicket." (Mark Barnett)