Originally Posted by
oldchinahand
The BA fleet is 'very old' by any current standards and if its long-haul backbone is a fleet of forty plus B777s that are all over twenty years old with some twenty five then there are bound to be tech issues and flight cancelations. The A319 is also 'old' with most of these also being around for twenty years plus.
As the BA fleet is largely leased one wonders why not lease younger aircraft ?
I don't know if older planes are necessarily bounded to have tech issues. Every piece of a plane has a maintenance schedule. A good maintained plane can be just as reliable as a new one. From a technical point of view age is just a number, the number of cycles is what ultimately kills a plane. Now from an economic view age does matters as the planes and engines get more fuel efficient. I think it's probable that the current delivered 777's do not have enough efficiency gains to replace the 'old' 777 especially since those are owned and probably paid in full. It's no surprise there is a sizable order for the 777X with a substantial number of options.