JC1120

The current UA fleet has an average of 13.7 years; will likely drop fairly significantly with the announced and all-but-certain retirements (757, 747, oldest of the 73X and A32X).

1 Allegiant Air 23.0
2 Delta Air Lines 15.8
3 Aeromexico 15.2
4 Southwest Airlines 14.7 (Edit - roughly tied with American Airlines)
5 US Airways 14.6
6 United Airlines 13.7
7 Cathay Pacific 13.0
8 Asiana Airlines 12.6
9 Lufthansa 12.4
10 Norwegian Air Shuttle 12.3
11 Thai Airways International 12.2
12 Air France 11.5
13 EVA Air 11.3
13 Garuda Indonesia 11.3
15 Air New Zealand 11.2
15 Japan Airlines 11.2
15 Philippine Airlines 11.2
18 China Airlines 11.0
19 Alaska Airlines 10.6
20 Hainan Airlines 10.1
21 Korean Air 9.9
22 ANA - All Nippon Airways 9.8
23 Gol 9.5
24 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 9.4
25 WestJet 9.3
26 Aeroflot Russian Airlines 8.9
27 Air China 8.7
28 Turkish Airlines 8.4
29 Avianca 8.0
30 China Eastern Airlines 7.5
30 China Southern Airlines 7.5
30 Singapore Airlines 7.5
33 Virgin Australia 7.1
34 Qatar Airways 7.0
35 Copa Airlines 6.5
36 LAN Airlines 6.1
37 TACA International Airlines 6.0
38 Spirit Airlines 5.7
39 Ryanair 5.0
40 JetBlue Airways 4.7
41 EasyJet 4.0
42 Air Arabia 3.0
42 AirAsia 3.0

Source: Bloomberg; Planespotters.net for AA data

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Where is AA?

JC1120

Interesting question. Bloomberg doesn't have them on their list. Planespotters.net lists them at 14.7 years, which would place them as a tie with Southwest Airlines.

mgcsinc

Yeah, not sure how I feel about this list since they seem to have forgotten a legacy carrier.

JC1120

The disclaimer from Bloomberg on the list states the following:

Public airlines with market capitalizations of at least $1 billion were considered. Air France and KLM were ranked separately, as were Avianca and Taca. Each pair of airlines operates under the same company. Averages included both passenger and cargo planes, except for Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa, which included only passenger planes. Although AMR Corp. had a market cap of $510 million as of December 31, 2012, and wasn't included, American Airlines' fleet averaged 16.6 years and American Eagle Airlines' fleet averaged 9.6.

Doesn't mention why they didn't include this in the chart, but maybe it was just due to the way the information was presented in the 10-K.

CrazyInteg

Thanks for the information, but what was the point of this thread?

zrs70

Old airlines fleets don't both me as a passenger. I think the worst thing about them is their efficiency, so I suppose it affects the bottom line.

But in terms of comfort, it's a non-issue. And in terms of safety.... With rare exception, I don't know of accidents that have occurred because of the age of a plane.

vickersja

My Delta is #2.

It is interesting to see how the airlines stack up against each other. I like seeing it.

belfordrocks

Funny, I'd much rather fly #7, #8 or #9 than #41, #42 or #43...

JC1120

They can retrofit interiors to modern designs, but in general, older planes tend to have less sound insulation and older fuselage/engine designs that can lead to higher noise levels. Also, depending on the refurbishment, the older planes may not have HEPA and UV air filtration systems. In the case of the A380/787, there are actually higher cabin humidity levels as well.

BlueZebra

Curious. Where is British Airways?

Bonehead

I'd be a lot more interested in the years of experience/quality of training of the folks on the flight deck ranked by airline.

unavaca

Gee, where did all the PMUA cheerleaders go? PMCO had a fairly young fleet; the PMUA fleet did a good job of pushing that average way way up.

More frequent MX issues on older planes, too. Allegiant Air suffers heavily from this with their mad dogs. UA's 744 dispatch reliability is atrocious, as well.

halls120

^ Older airframes well maintained are of no concern to me at all. If anything, they are over-engineered compared to their mocern counterparts.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Here's why you don't pick an airline based on age of fleet. You could be sitting on a turbo-prop w my neighbor's kid at the yolk.