Airline fleets take on youthful feel

• Airlines trim fleets, keep younger jets (graphics)

By Donna Rosato
USA Today

Sharp cutbacks in air travel since Sept. 11 are speeding a shift to younger planes — a trend that airlines say is reducing flight delays.

The 10 largest passenger airlines have grounded nearly 300 planes because of the drop in travel, according to a study for USA Today by Back Aviation Solutions. Many fleets are smaller but younger.

Dozens of the parked jets are airlines' oldest ones, some dating to the Nixon administration. More than three-quarters are single-aisle jets used for domestic flights. Some may be recalled, but airlines plan to retire many to reduce maintenance and fuel costs.

"9/11 was a huge wake-up call to the airline industry. Airlines went from losing money to hemorrhaging, so they sped up plans to get rid of their most inefficient aircraft," says Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, an aerospace research firm.

Some changes are dramatic:

• United Airlines retired nearly 100 Boeing 727s and 737-200s, some almost 25 years old, cutting the average age of its single-aisle jets to 8.6 years from 11.3 years.
• American Trans Air jets' average age fell from nearly 15 years to 10 after retiring some nearly 30-year old Lockheed L-1011s and getting new Boeing 737s.
• Continental Airlines stopped flying DC-10s, cutting the age of its double-aisle jets to 2.7 years, down from 8.5 years before Sept. 11.

"One of the opportunities we had post 9/11 was to get rid of some fleet types. There are so many benefits to having younger fleets," says Glen Hauenstein, Continental's senior vice president of scheduling.

Two of those benefits are:

• Fewer cancellations and delays. Airlines say the increased reliability of younger fleets — along with fewer flights — has helped improve on-time flight records this year.

  Younger planes require less maintenance, and when problems do arise, they're easier to pinpoint because the jets have more sophisticated computer diagnostics. Continental says it operated 15 days in May with no cancellations. "That was unheard of a few years ago," Hauenstein says.

  United's domestic flights arrived within 15 minutes of schedule 83 percent of the time in April vs. 72 percent a year ago. It says maintenance spending fell to $145 million in the first quarter, from $200 million a year ago.

• More onboard amenities. Newer planes are quieter and have more comforts, such as larger overhead bins and better-cushioned seats.

  On American Trans Air, 85 percent of planes have leather seats. And starting this month, every plane in scheduled service offers in-flight movies and videos for the first time.