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Will Alaska keep Virgin America's Airbuses???
After hearing of the merge between AS and VX [Good luck to Alaska by the way:)] I'm wondering if AS will truly keep VX's Airbus fleet since they display the decal, "Proudly all Boeing." Just a thought that popped into my head this morning as I watched VX taking off from KLAS. (www.yahoo.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Alaska will stay all Boeing. They've flown 737's for a long time. They had some MD-80's and gradually got rid of them. With both firms being from the Northwest (Boeing still has a major presence in Seattle), I expect as leases run out on the Airbus planes, they'll add Boeing planes to replace them. But...will they all be 737's?
This is an "only time will tell" type of question. I think the fact that the airplanes are leased will be part of the decision. Part of the decision will be maintenance, having to keep spare parts for two different airplanes and where will the parts be stored. I don't think that except for one employee group the integration of the Airbus into Alaska's system will not make any difference. But that employee group is a significant one. It is the pilot group and it will not be the integration of the seniority list that help make the decision, it will be the type ratings required for the different aircraft and scheduling of those aircraft. With one type on property pilots can fly anywhere and the integration of their schedules are much easier to maintain. If there are two types of aircraft on property and they don't have a common type rating you can't efficiently schedule your crews. I'm not making any predictions, but it will be interesting to see how this all works out.
Nearly all of VX's Airbus fleet is leased, not owned--with leases set to expire beginning in 2020. I think it AS won't make a decision until nearer to the lease expiration, because as Canuck44 says, AS has bigger, more immediate, fish to fry.
I don't think so, airbuses demand different maintenance needs than boeing, are more complex aircraft. I believe VX will have to increase it's spending budget without affecting AS market prices......
Leased ... and when they end, the first ones in approximately 2 years, they can decide.
I think you can find plenty of articles stating that this was a defensive move, growth for sure, but
limtiing Jet Blue in AS territory.
I think you can find plenty of articles stating that this was a defensive move, growth for sure, but
limtiing Jet Blue in AS territory.
I think they"ll keep them.
Look at Delta before they took over Northwest, they had an all MD and Boeing fleet and they kept the Airbus planes from Northwest and they still today love them, they're geting 100 brand new Airbus planes from Airbus now.
I think Alaska should try the Airbus planes
Look at Delta before they took over Northwest, they had an all MD and Boeing fleet and they kept the Airbus planes from Northwest and they still today love them, they're geting 100 brand new Airbus planes from Airbus now.
I think Alaska should try the Airbus planes