Alaska Airlines moves towards Boeing fleet

[TLoraine]

Ben Goldstein of Aviation Week running a story that Alaska Airlines will speed up retirement of 10 Airbus A320 airliners, marking the latest in a series of moves that appear likely to reduce its reliance on Airbus for years to come. The article also states:"The 10 A320s slated for early removal are the only 10 Airbus aircraft that Alaska owns in its fleet, while its several dozen remaining A320s are all leased, with expirations ranging from 2021 to 2025. Aviation Week Intelligence Network Fleet Data shows that the 10 A320s facing accelerated retirement are all young, with an average age of just five years. The decision to retire such a young cohort of aircraft offers perhaps the greatest confirmation yet that Alaska is serious about abandoning its dual-fleet structure, a prospect that management has repeatedly floated in recent years as a potential cost-reduction strategy.

Alaska operated an all-Boeing mainline fleet prior to its merger with Virgin America in 2016, during which it inherited 61 A319s and A320s, as well as 10 leased A320neos that expire in 2031. The carrier has already retired 12 of those aircraft this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including all 10 of its A319s and two of its A320s. As part of that decision, the company trained 240 Airbus pilots to operate Boeing aircraft, in a move that stoked further speculation at the time about the potential pivot away from Airbus."