Originally Posted by
jon503
This was the first question that came to my mind too. It would seem more reasonable to just leave them in the 744s and phase them out. ICN-FRA for instance has F, but it is my understanding that they'll get the last A380 on order soonish anyway. Not sure if that time-span would be enough to get a decent ROI on retrofitting the 744.
Does anyone know how old the 744s are? How far into their useful life are they?
I have done some quick research and found an average age of about 20 years
http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/Asiana-Airlines
It seems they can have a useful life of up to 30 years historically, but I don't know whether they're efficient enough to make economic sense that long for OZ. In any case, it seems retrofitting them
could make sense. Another option would be to run 2-class service and try and fill more F seats that way, though I personally don't consider that a very elegant solution.
Another consideration is whether OZ currently has the capacity to retire aircraft during retrofitting. My guess is no, so they would have to wait until more A380 are delivered and there's more slack.
HelloItsMe, my guess would thus be that this will take some time for OZ to implement, though I don't have any proof.