what is the age of Jet2 youngest and oldest airframe out of interest?
The youngest at the moment is 737-8Z9(WL), G-GDFR, at 11.7 years old,
And the oldest bird in the fleet is 737-330(QC), G-CELP, at 28.7 years of age, this meaning from youngest to oldest, a range of 17 years.
I understand that with age come no
greater benefit, other than cost of course. But at the end of the day, if they're airworthy, and smart inside, then why not?
it is only a matter of time before someone asks if buying older aircraft is a factor in reliability
And Jet2 have a recovery method in these sort of cases - spare aircraft parked up. This strategy serves them well, especially as most of the destinations are no more than 4-5 hours away. It means that if an aircraft goes tech down route, Jet2 have a plan B, something a lot of airlines can't accommodate. Another benefit is that the parked aircraft are dotted around the EU, so not only do they have spares in the UK, they also have a spare I believe down in ALC, which can often mean faster dispatch to the Canary Islands. I think it is only a 733, but even so, that could be dispatched and pick the passengers up with a 2 hour delay, drop them in ALC, and straight onto a recovery aircraft from LBA in the UK. So instead of waiting 4.5/5 hours for a spare to arrive, you are on one in 2 hours.
