Originally Posted by
lhrsfo
But often an airline has both for historical reasons and, once you have both, it sometimes makes sense to order both. For example UA originally had 737s (older generation). Airbus made them an offer they couldn't refuse for 320s, so UA bought them and finally retired their remaining 737s. It then merged with CO, which had 737s only, and the combined entity bought more 737s. It then needed more capacity and found a good supply of secondhand 320 family planes so bought them.
The "offer UA couldn't refuse" was that the A320 offered significantly more range than the 734. Indeed, losing that order to Airbus is THE reason the 737NG was developed. It had nothing to do with pricing, or even efficiency (the 733 is actually still very cost competitive within its range band).
The reason UA retired their 737s is much more complex and actually has nothing to do with their Airbus fleet. They dumped those planes to make the airline more attractive for a merger. If they had kept those, they wouldn't have needed to buy CO in order to have a decent short haul fleet.
Originally Posted by
bwiadca
I'm not aware of UA buying second hand 320s. I know that they are looking but they didn't buy any yet.
On the other hand, recently they have bought second hand 737-700s from Copa.
It is pretty well known that UA has a deal in place for 15-20 A319s from a Chinese carrier.