As long as Delta is around don't worry about your Mad dog or Level D being retired. Read this mourning they purchased a ten year old 777-200 for 7.7 mil. A new -200ER cost 277.3 mil. As this fleet ages, consider the cost of refurbishing and maintenance, as well as public image. Is this smart business or short sighted?  The -200 had older Roll Royce engines. Considering the high cycle birds like the MD80 and B717 is there a safety factor? Can you find every microscopic crack in the air frame or turbine blades? I dunno. What are your thoughts?

If they can get a 777 for 95% less that can pay for a lot of maintenance, and the 717s are pretty new. They're all newer I expect than a lot of the 757s and 767s out there.

 

Most average fleet ages (according to Bloomberg) are in the 7-15 year range. A 10 year old plane is nothing.

 

Cheers!
 

Luke

That is some major depreciation. I can't think of any automobile that depreciates that quickly. That's cheaper than a lot of private jets, even used private jets. I wonder what condition this 777 is in.

This 10 year old ER would actually make it the youngest ER in the Delta fleet. Besides it isn’t really the age that counts as much as the number of cycles. Long haul aircraft have an advantage here since they tend to accrue at a much lower rate.

I’m wondering if it’s one of the four Kenya Airways 200ERs that are for sale. They have two that were delivered in 2005 that have been stored. If that’s the case it may not be complete if they’ve been stripping it for parts when the other two were still flying.