Originally Posted by
bzcat
15 is not too small of a sub fleet for an airline like AA. They operated a similar size A300 fleet for a long time. As long as the aircraft has a niche in the network, it can operate profitably....
Originally Posted by
cmd320
The A300 fleet was actually about 35 most of the time. AA used to really avoid subfleets in general, something that has obviously change quite a bit....
Yea, The A300 had a niche at AA which justified the (then) policy of no sub-fleets.
The "niche" they had were extremely favorable lease rates. If I remember correctly, those leases were directly from Airbus had a 30 day "no questions asked" walk-away clause (perhaps that was only during the initial lease period ??).
Either way, it isn't exactly a good comparison to say AA operated the "A300 fleet for a long time" (versus how long current aircraft sub-fleets operate), nor the statement that "15 is not too small of a sub fleet for an airline like AA".
The lease terms drove a bias towards keeping the A300s.