One of the big stories coming out of Alaska Airlines in late 2020 and into 2021 was the carrier’s plans regarding its fleet. The airline has made significant strides to get back to an all-Boeing fleet, as it hopes to benefit from the favorable cost tailwinds of operating a single fleet type. However, there is one Airbus fleet still in limbo: the Airbus A321neos.
Alaska Airlines on the Airbus A321neos
Speaking on the carrier’s fourth-quarter earnings call, executives highlighted recent moves the airline has made to retire its Airbus fleet. It is currently flying 27 Airbus A320ceos plus ten Airbus A321neos. The 27 A320ceos will be retired by the end of 2023. However, when asked about the Airbus A321neos, Alaska’s executives stated they were taking a flexible approach to the A321neos and would look at opportunities to keep them in the fleet and to have them retired.
This is not necessarily too out of line with what Alaska has consistently stated on the A321neos. Those aircraft have been the subject of much speculation as to what will ultimately happen to the fleet and if they will serve until the end of the decade. There could have been an interesting option with Alaska’s cancelable order for 30 Airbus A320neos, though that order officially came off the books not too long ago and so was sealed the fate of the A321neos.
Alaska’s A321neo network
Looking at scheduling data in Cirium, in January, Alaska Airlines scheduled the Airbus A321neo on the following routes:
Note that frequencies and operations vary based on each route. The most common routes for the Airbus A321neos were New York to San Francisco (JFK-SFO), Seattle to Orlando (SEA-MCO), and Seattle to New York (SEA-JFK), which all saw up to two daily operations with the A321neo.
The Airbus A321neo is the largest fleet by seat count, with room for 190 passengers onboard. Just below this is the Boeing 737 MAX 9 and 737-900 Next Generation models, which both seat 178 passengers. Coupled with the performance of the A321neo plus capacity, you can see on the map that they are heavily deployed on longer-haul routes in Alaska’s network.
A replaceable fleet
For Alaska Airlines, the A321neo is a highly replaceable fleet. The Boeing 737 Next Generation or 737 MAX flies to all of these airports where the A321neo flies. Like the Airbus A321neo, the 737 MAX offers compelling fuel-efficiency and operating economics that make them both an excellent type for longer-haul routes in the Alaska network.
What is holding Alaska back from replacing the A321neos sooner rather than later are the leases around them. Breaking a lease is possible, though Alaska may incur some steep penalties coupled with exit costs for leased planes that make it an unattractive option, even if Alaska could accelerate the cost benefits of an all-Boeing fleet.
Alaska has made some creative deals to accelerate the retirement of some of its Airbus aircraft. However, it has yet to craft something for the A321neos. Alaska does only have ten Airbus A321neos, so it is not a large fleet to try and transition out, but, according to data from ch-aviation.com, the A321neo fleet has an average age of under four years. This may make it an attractive option for some airlines looking to take a small fleet of younger A321neos to expand an existing A321neo fleet or help jump-start another transition.
Of course, some of the calculus around the A321neos is based on working with a lessor to find a solution. Alaska has done so in the past, so there is some precedent to find a solution, but it could be an interesting option if it works. Of course, Alaska will need to make sure that it has a fleet to take over the role of the A321neos. Nevertheless, Alaska has made it clear again: if there is a way to make the A321neos go, they may as well be gone.
from Simple Flying https://ift.tt/5Bx0qD2rt
via IFTTT
Comments
Post a Comment