United’s CFO Andrew Levy spoke at the Stifel Transportation & Logistics Conference and the biggest piece of news was the airline’s fleet plan. He laid out what’s on the table over the coming year, but suggested that everything after that is under review and that they’re actively looking in the used aircraft market.
Here’s the current United Airlines fleet plan:
It also seems that United is ‘likely to add premium economy on some long haul routes but details remain sparse. American now has aircraft with premium economy, and Delta has plans for it as well.
Delta of course has been in the used aircraft market. Remember United and American copy Delta blindly for both the right and wrong things (indeed, though American announced their premium economy first, it was a pretty rushed announcement with speculation at the time that they were simply trying to get out ahead of a pending Delta announcement).
Gary – United used aircraft article links to the wrong Bloomberg article. Thx.
thx fixed
United buys secondhand A380s? Lol probably not but is there a good supply of 2nd hand 77Ws?
As for premium economy, will this cause further delay in Polaris seat rollout? Ugh.
I just don’t understand the fascination with used aircraft. Unless you have the synergies in terms of overhaul and maintenance that Delta has (as well as a pretty good system for overhauling interiors like Delta), I’m just not sure how you can make that work well. You open yourself up for a huge risk on fuel costs as well.
That’s the first time I’ve seen the words “Actively seeking opportunities in …” anywhere other than the LinkedIn profile of a failed job seeker
@dettman – I think there is going to be a sizable 2nd hand market for 77W from the likes of SQ, EK and the leasing cos that could be of interest to someone like UA. Fuel burn risk in that frame is less than on other available types. But do agree 100% that copying 1 part of DLs strategy ignores the other 9 points that make it actually work – UA and AA are guilty of this
Interesting article: UA is cutting long-haul capacity by 5 planes.. until those B787/A350 arrive. Any information which routes they are planning to chop/thin out?