Originally Posted by
neville_nobody
Mining companies fly in the cheapest option available every time. You could offer them a brand new A220 but if it is 1 cent more expensive to charter than 30 year old F100 they will fly in the F100. That is why Alliance have gone and bought so many aircraft. Noone is going to be able to compete with them in that market space as parts become more scarce. Competitors will be forced to look at other aircraft but won't be able to compete on price, partly in due to the low capital cost of the F100.
Spot on - and to their credit Alliance have been able to argue that the F100s are still "modern". Given the competitors are also flying them or BAe 146s, there's no driving push to change the fleet any time soon, the driving issue will be the engine support. So far, Rolls-Royce have said that they will support them for the foreseeable future, but that will change at some point.
People I've spoken to at the airline have said the A318 could be appealing, while E-Jet values are going down as more carriers replace them - albeit not yet to the same value as the Fokkers.
Depending on how long the wet-lease stuff for Virgin and occasionally Qantas lasts for, there would be good reason to take in a second fleet type like the E-Jets, but the miners won't pay a cent more for a new type. A220, MRJ, SSJ will never make it into Alliance's fleet.