Originally Posted by
pbarnette
I would think they may wait. With fuel prices relatively low, the pressure to take on capital or lease costs to save on fuel costs is lessened. They should only replace those planes where the combined annual capital/lease, fuel, and maintenance costs of the existing planes would be greater than the planes they would buy, accounting for cash flow considerations, as well.
Oil is indeed cheap now, but I think few people expect it to stay in the $50 range permanently. On the other hand, aircraft are ordered for delivery 2-5 years in the future, and have a useful life of decades.