V-Flyer

I have just seen somewhere that the average age of the Virgin fleet 11.2 years which means that some of the planes are around 16 years. Correct me if I am wrong but that seems old to me.
Virgin claim they have one of the youngest fleets.

Is a plane 16 years old regarded as young? They seem to upgrading these planes rather than replacing them does that make sense?

They USED to claim they did. I remember the "fly a younger fleet" tagline.

These days, it's muted. That said, it'll happen to most airlines - the startups have new fleets NOW, but to make the planes profitable they have to keep the leases for longer than just a few years. I dare say the 330 and 787 introductions will re-energise the fleet by quite some leap, however, and that's started to happen...

cldcp00 wrote:I have just seen somewhere that the average age of the Virgin fleet 11.2 years which means that some of the planes are around 16 years. Correct me if I am wrong but that seems old to me.
Virgin claim they have one of the youngest fleets.

Is a plane 16 years old regarded as young? They seem to upgrading these planes rather than replacing them does that make sense?

Age isn't everything. a well maintained plane can last for decades. They are expensive to buy and maintain and you don't just get rid of them because they have reached a certain age.

Regular refurbishment is a cost effective way of bringing up the internal cabin upto date and when most people say the plane was old they really mean the cabin looked dated.

Case in point: People (for many years) have referred to the "old" LGW/MAN planes.

They were some of the youngest planes in the fleet! They just had crap interiors....

For a comparison have a look at

http://www.airfleets.net/ageflotte/fleet-age.htm

I assume it's based on working your assets / fuel economy / leasing conditions. I suspect you'll find that the LCC have the youngest fleets.

A quick search reveals Virgin's oldest 747 was delivered April 1994 making it 18yrs old

British Airways oldest delivered November 1989, 23yrs old

The oldest i could find was a Kabo air 747 from 1971 and still in service, average age 35.3yrs old :0
http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Kabo ... e-b747.htm

I think I'll stick with Virgin for now

preiffer wrote:Case in point: People (for many years) have referred to the "old" LGW/MAN planes.

They were some of the youngest planes in the fleet! They just had crap interiors....

No doubt at the end of the year, once all the refits are complete the same people will be saying along the lines of "thank god they got rid of those old planes and replaced them with brand new ones".

cldcp00 wrote:Correct me if I am wrong but that seems old to me.

While age is relevant, it's one of a basket of considerations in determining airworthiness, and 16 years for a long haul jet is not actually very old. Also under consideration are number of cycles (takeoffs and landings) and maintenance - for example most jets are certified for a maximum number of cycles (which is a design through build through operational issue) and a 747 or 346 has relatively few cycles due to the length of flight, whereas a 737 may be certified for many more cycles but tends to operate more per day. Delta for example flies >25 yo MD80s and 757s ... no one thinks that's unsafe because they're well looked after.

And if the CAA / FAA and similar bodies arn't happy with an airlines maintenance then they will soon ban them from their airspace.

There is a blacklist of airlines not allowed to operate to/from Europe for that very reason.

Do some manufacturers have a rep for lasting longer? I'm thinking Mercedes vs Kia but in the airplane world?

craigmonster wrote:Do some manufacturers have a rep for lasting longer? I'm thinking Mercedes vs Kia but in the airplane world?

I don't think you will find a reputation like you refer to, Airbus of course has not been around as long as Boeing, but there are plenty of 1970s A300/310s flying, as there are Boeing aircraft.

Seeing at there's not too many manufacturers, it's a bit harder comparing like-for-like.

Some would argue that Douglas are some of the longest lasting. There are many airworth DC-3's out flying daily.

cldcp00 wrote:I have just seen somewhere that the average age of the Virgin fleet 11.2 years which means that some of the planes are around 16 years. Correct me if I am wrong but that seems old to me.
Virgin claim they have one of the youngest fleets.

Is a plane 16 years old regarded as young? They seem to upgrading these planes rather than replacing them does that make sense?

Actually according to planeregister the average age is 9.6 yes old and when the new A330s arrive it will reduce even further.