American and US Air to offload some of their MD-80 and Boeing 757 jets?

[usa1]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Jude Bricker, vice president of corporate finance and treasurer at Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co , said the merger to create the world's biggest airline likely will prompt American and US Air to offload some of their MD-80 and Boeing 757 jets.[/background]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-airlines-allegiantbre91c04u-20130212,0,5688910.story

 

[Jester]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Jude Bricker, vice president of corporate finance and treasurer at Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co , said the merger to create the world's biggest airline likely will prompt American and US Air to offload some of their MD-80 and Boeing 757 jets.[/background]

http://www.chicagotr...0,5688910.story

Not sure this is really news... AA has been in the process of retiring its MD-80s for a few years now with or without bankrutpcy, and if the B757s are being dumped they are usually up for a major check or have high cycles. Given the operational reliability of their fleet, Allegiant needs to have as many spares as possible to pull-up from a pad. As I understand it, Allegiant pretty much gets their MD-80s for next to nothing under the condition they buy the engines from the manufacturer, and they do inordinate number of engine replacements in their stations due to mechancial issues.

For example, Allegiant started their "90 in 90" program with the objective to get 90% of their STAR flights to depart on time within 90 days after the start of the plan. That's a pretty low standard if 90% of the first flights of the day are the goal to get out on time! I have heard from some very good sources that in one of their larger stations, he estimated about 10% of Allegiant flights were tail swaps due to mechanical issues or returns to the gate due to mechanical issues. The number of "rescue flights" because the plane broke in an out-station requiring the ferry of an empty plane was noticably high too. He once told me that Allegiant had to ferry a second flight out once, because the original aircraft and the rescue aircraft were not airworthy once they reached their destination!

So yes, Allegiant has serious problems with having reliable aircraft and given being on-time is not a high priority as they do not have connecting passengers and bags, their solution is to have plenty of back-up aircraft in the frequent event they need to preform an aircraft swap.

 

[PullUp]

I'd heard through the grapevine that AA had slated 40 757's to be sold to FedEx.
Cheers.

 

[wings396]

And all this info coming from a travel agent, yea she's got the inside scoop. A waste of an article.

 

[wings396]

And all this info coming from a travel agent, yea she's got the inside scoop. A waste of an article.

 

[FWAAA]

I blame the Chicago Tribune for this drivel. With or without a merger, AA's MD-80s are being retired. With or without a merger, AA is retiring a pile of 757s. And yes, Allegient flies some ex-AA MD-80s. With or without a merger, there will be plenty of used AA MD-80s and 757s for Allegient to pick-a-part to keep their fleet flying. Yawn.

 

[ChockJockey]

Thank you for choosing US Airways non-stop 757 service to the Hawaiian islands. Please refer to the safety information card located in the seatback in front of you. In the unlikely event of a takeoff, your seatbelt may be used as a restraint device...

 

[signals]

And all this info coming from a travel agent, yea she's got the inside scoop. A waste of an article.

Agree!

 

[ContUNITEus]

I thought that the 757, as old as it is, is a very much desired aircraft.... Unless it is falling apart and too old to maintain, or someone can sell it for a lot of money, you probably wont find any 57s leaving an airline fleet.

Being that AA has invested money in retrofitting all of their 57s with winglets, I doubt that they would get rid of them, until there is an Extended range etops A321neo.

If anything, you would probably see some of the ex-AWA 757-2S7s that haven't been retrofitted with winglets leave the fleet, such as N901AW, N902AW, N904AW, N905AW and N906AW.

 

[cynic]

I think a few more of the 757s will stick around after the merger than the two airlines would have kept individually.

 

[FWAAA]

I thought that the 757, as old as it is, is a very much desired aircraft.... Unless it is falling apart and too old to maintain, or someone can sell it for a lot of money, you probably wont find any 57s leaving an airline fleet.

Being that AA has invested money in retrofitting all of their 57s with winglets, I doubt that they would get rid of them, until there is an Extended range etops A321neo.

Sorry to say, but it's already happening. In 2011 and 2012, AA retired 22 of its oldest 757s and the current fleet plan has 12 more retired during 2013. That will reduce the fleet to 90 757s by year end (from 124 at year end 2010). AA has said that it will keep approximately 70 of its newest 757s for a while, including the youngest 20 which have the lie-flat J seats for TATL and Central America international service plus the next 50 youngest regular 757s. Those 50 will get complete interior refurbs over the next three years (10 are already done). The 20 international 757s (75Ls) were delivered in 2002-03 and will probably be around for a long time.

The winglets paid for themselves in fuel savings by the second or third year, so that's not a concern now.

757s have slightly higher fuel burn than today's A321s (the current ones, not the neos) plus 757s have much higher rouine maintenance costs than today's A321s. AA's fleet plan envisions those 50 regular 757s being replaced over the next 10 years, mostly with A321neos to be delivered 2018-22.

The 2013 retirements were mentioned in the earnings release last month (scroll down to the end):

http://aa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=3616