Originally Posted by
Aussie_flyer
The point I'm making is that these were not ancient 1980s aircraft that were overdue for retirement. Some of them are younger than Thai 747's and 777's. So yes they may not be as fuel efficient as an A320 ( which first entered service 10 years before Thai's newest A300 rolled off the production line) but they were not old aircraft.
Doesn't matter when the aircraft were built, in the day of 100USD/barrel oil a widebody aircraft first designed in the 1970's can not be economically operated on routes that can be operated by narrowbody aircraft with a fraction of their range.