fleet age

[ban2]

hows does the age of aircraft affect game play, is there any reason for keeping fleet young?

[swiftus27]

Very important.

Older aircraft cost a TON more to maintain.  All maintenance actions take more money.
Older aircraft negatively impact your Company Image.   Who wants to fly on an airline with really old planes?

An example:  
A new A322 ... A Checks cost 5,323 (276,796) ... B Checks cost 13,840 (166,080)... C Check costs 319,395   (annual total of 762,271)
A 11.7 year old 322 ... A Checks cost 8,021 (417,092)... B Checks cost 20,854 (250,248)... C Check costs 481,254 (annual total of 1,148,594)

That is a difference of 386,323.

Another example:
A new Boeing 752 costs 1,069,797 to maintain per year
A 17.6 year old 752 costs 2,431,528 to maintain per year

That is a difference of over double!

And the older they get, the more quickly their costs increase.

[Tenerife]

Compare an old 733 with an new one!:

                     new 733                 old 733 [16 years]
A-check     6 687 (347 724)      14173 (736 996)
B-check    17 387 (208 644)      36854 (442 212)
C-check  401 240 (401 240)    850 400 (850 400)
                         ---------                ---------
                         (957 608)              (2 029 608)  per year

I'm paying more than 1 000 000 per year more per aircraft 

[ban2]

wow thanks guys, all of a sudden i feel the need to replace my 23yr old a300s.

i guess i want to keep them becuase the lease is so low, some as little as 300k per month. but i shall now be looking to replace them with something more efficient

[Sigma]

wow thanks guys, all of a sudden i feel the need to replace my 23yr old a300s.

i guess i want to keep them becuase the lease is so low, some as little as 300k per month. but i shall now be looking to replace them with something more efficient

Once planes exceed 20 years pax don't like to fly on you.  They will if there's no other option, but they tend to move much quicker to competition if your planes are that old.

The difference in plane age and customer demand doesn't seem all that big until you get to that 20 year mark.

[bpreles]

I think that whole equation needs to be modified. Something to like at 20+ years it has an impact. Case in point, look at Northwest Airlines/Delta Airlines in the US. They operate the oldest DC-9 fleet around and do passengers stay away from them. NO. They still continue to fly them. Most of their a/c are over 30 years old.

[virtual]

Why flying with older planes :
1°) Because they are plenty on the market to lease, no hassle getting them
2°) u never pay the c check you release them before the 1st year of lease
3°) because lease is much cheaper u can rent double planes as you will do with newer ones, u advance 4 months, but much less amount
4°) You build image on many routes quicker than the people who rent only news ones, because u can have about double siez of fleet with same amount of money

Only think to keep an eye on, it's to avoid fly them far away, because they do eat a lot of fuel

best is to take cheaper, older planes, full hd seats and fly them everywhere, when competition start just replace them
but if people have no options, they will fly you no matter with what 

I still have a fleet of 30 237/200 adv  in the game, and people fly with me at 90% on hd seats, cheaper price of course, but good good money...

[WesternU]

Don't forget that older planes are also cheaper to buy, so that needs to play into your thinking.

Example it may cost you $1M more per year in maintenance, but if I can get the plane for $20M less than a new one and if it is under 20 years of age, then it pays to get the older plane, later if competition picks up, you can sell it or lease it out to offset the cost of getting that new plane.

Also, if the lease payment on a new plane is substantially higher than an older one, that will negate the maintenance savings and could actually turn a profitable route into a money loser.  I mean if the $1M in maintenance savings is going to cost me $2M more in lease payments, then I will not be in business too long.