Originally Posted by luckypierre
It is the "D" check that drives the decision to ground the aircraft rather than spend the money
30-40 day heavy maintenance where the plane is basically disassembled
i believe the cost is usually above 1 million
Well above $1 million; in 1998, AA announced the retirement of eight DC-10s and two 727s for early 1999 and said that the move would save $40 million in maintenance expenses.
That's an average of $4 million each!
And depending on utilization, it happens every 18-24 months on every widebody plane. Maintenance is very expensive.