Originally Posted by
Australopithecus
60,000 hrs is the original service life for the 330. There is an Extended Service Goals program for the 330, but the ongoing maintenance costs are reported to be very costly, and render the aircraft just barely economical to operate.
There was a time when the contrast between the Airbus and Boeing marketing model was stark.
The
cost of acquisition of a comparative Boeing product substantively higher than an Airbus product.
The difference was, that the projected maintenance costs of the Boeing product over the life of the aircraft were more linear.
Airbus in stark contrast, was cheaper to acquire but progressively more difficult to keep as maintenance went exponential!
Given that much of the analysis is spreadsheet driven and the purchasing decision increasingly a finance only consideration, bottom line short term impact became the focus. This worked fine provided a Full Service Airline kept the fleet renewal program rolling.