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?
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.
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%.