Plane Conversations

A  February 1 article by A. Pawlowski of CNN titled “How old is the plane you’re flying on?” says the following: “Few people expect luxury while flying, but these days, even the basics seem to be in bad shape. It’s not uncommon to find your tray table broken, the in-flight entertainment system not working and your seat cushion worn — all of which can make you think, how old is this plane anyway?”

“But for now, the reality for many U.S. air travelers is that most of their journeys take place on planes that have been in service for a decade or more and show it, though in ways that have no impact on their safety – like worn interiors, broken creature comforts and less than spotless conditions.”

Sounds more like riding on the metro rail than flying on an aircraft. Maybe that is what the experience ends up being in the future? Mass transit by Air! 

The average age of the fleet of the seven large U.S. passenger airlines – including American, Alaska, Continental, the merged Delta and Northwest, Southwest, United and US Airways – is about 14 years old, according to The Airline Monitor. It found American and Delta/Northwest had the oldest fleets, at about 16 years on average. As of the end of 2008, a small percentage of the merged Delta/Northwest’s planes dated back to the late 1960s.

U.S. fleets are among the oldest in the world, said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia.

So all of this begs the question about safety and are these aircraft still safe?

Most everyone will agree, as do the experts quoted in the article, that the fleet of airline aircraft in the United States are maintained to the highest standards in the world and that they are safe. The safety record of US airlines have continued to improve each decade due to good maintenance, technology upgrades in the cockpit and better training of pilots and maintenance personnel.

I have no fear of getting on a 16-year-old aircraft operated by a major air carrier in this country and no worry about arriving safely. The professionals who fly and maintain these aircraft are the best in the world, in spite of the bad press of a very few isolated incidents where the pilots are “working on their laptops” and forget where they are.

The Airline Industry is Safe! But what about the experience?

Is the traveling public going to resign themselves to the idea that all they can expect is to safely arrive? That’s all you expect when you hop on the metro rail in any major city.

There is an alternative for the traveler - it’s called private aviation or business aviation and it’s anything but the same old experience!

Highlight any portion you want: