sn26567 wrote:Some start-ups have big ambitions and want to attract the customer with up-to-date planes. LCCs also buy brand-new planes. So why not start-up LCCs?
And new planes usually use less fuel...
Ryanair, easyJet & Air Berlin: they all used older planes ( 737-200/-300) and then when things went well bought new planes...
A new plane uses less fuel but costs a hell of a lot more than an older one, and for a startup costs could I would suppose.
Indeed these airlines started with old planes. But this got the public to doubt about the safety of the operator. Still a lot of people think that Ryanair is not safe to fly because they operate old airplanes.
Also operating an old airplane can cause unplanned technecal problems. If this happens to a new airline it creates a bad felling with the public. Also operating new airplanes is much cheaper in the use, uses less fuel and are shure to be operated for a long time to come. So they will not have to worry about replacing these airplanes in the near future. While an operator as Ryanair already had to think about big investments in less then a few years to replace their old airplanes. I think vueling did the right choos by leasing two brand new A320.
Yes it is also possible to happen to a new airplane. But it is not as likely to happen then with an ten year old airplane.
I still have in my memory that this happend quite often to Ryanair, cancelled flights due to technical problems. And if you are then a passanger flying with them you are really on your own.
An aircraft's age is not always a sign of its reliability. There are still 737-200s operating perfectly safely worldwide, whilst I remember the British Midland 737-400 which crashed near the M1 motorway a very short time into its career.
A very well maintained and cared for older aircraft is safer than a new aircraft which is badly cared for and poorly maintained. There are still airworthy DC3s, whilst the De Havilland Comet began crashing less than a year after it was introduced.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise
Comet wrote:I remember the British Midland 737-400 which crashed near the M1 motorway a very short time into its career.
This airplane crashed due to pilot error. They accidently shut down the wrong engine after engine failure on the #1 Eng. So this airplane would probably not have crashed if it wasn't because of the pilots. Engine failures happen really often.
whilst the De Havilland Comet began crashing less than a year after it was introduced.
This is almost imossible anymore. This was an engineering error because of lack of knowledge for fatigue. With all the knowledge known by now, these kind of errors are impossible at the present.
