When to repair your airplane?

[SulphurTX]

Hi all! I just started my new airline company with a leased Fokker 28. The condition is 71%. Anyone already had experiences with failures when your plane´s condition is less than 80%? What can happen when it´s around 70% and what´s the mininum condition for a plane to fly?

[estair]

71% is ok, when buying a plane then try over 70%. I had one DC-9 and the condition was not that bad....69% to 65%. But it did a lot of cancelletions because of tech problems and it also was late because of tech problems. That ended up with BIG image decrease. So I repaired the plane. It helped a lot, because there s no more cancelletions because tech problems, or when then only a few. Company image raises.
So I would suggest you to repaid the plane, when theres lot of canceled flights due to tech problems and the image is getting a hit. But remember, that it is not cheap. Also a little hint: there is no point to repair the plane 90%+ because it takes a lot of money a lot of time, and when the condition is less, its OK.

[Jps]

The cancellations due to tech problem don't come just from the airplane condition. Also the age, number of landings and flight time are taken into account. Also, I think that it is aircraft type- dependable, too. For example, I had a 14 year-old B737-200 Advanced with condition 69%, and it had never any cancellations. Still, other planes can get tech problems eve with condition 80%...
Also, remember, that all the checks raise the condition too, so if your aircraft is close to B check, no need to make an extra check, as B check usually raises the condition more than 10%.