Originally Posted by
ksweeney
I've heard from several pilots that none of the 80s will be repainted. The goal is to park them in the desert before the next major. I wonder how many 80s just going through the normal cycle will reach the point where they would need to be repainted in the next 3 to 4 years? Does anyone know the current timeline for parking the last 80?
I don't have a precise timeline for the MD-80s, but my estimate is that the last one flies in about 2017 or maybe 2018. At 12/31/12, AA had 190 MD-80s and parked 28 of them in 2013. The fleet plan currently shows another 25 MD-80s retired in 2014, ending 2014 with just 137.
Single-Aisle Deliveries this year on the AA side include 20 738s, 10 A319s and 25 A321s (many of those will be 32B transcons).
Page 4 of this .pdf contains the 2014 fleet plan:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External...R5cGU9MQ==&t=1
Fuel prices aren't climbing these days, and there are several macro factors at work that might cause fuel prices to moderate (primarily the huge increases in oil production, that could contain price increases). If so, parking the MD-80s might not be the priority that it was 2-3 years ago when it looked like price hikes had no limit.