Airlines go on a record new jet shopping spree
ROSWELL, New Mexico - Capt. Paul Wannberg glides an old Boeing 757 over the New Mexico desert, lining up with the runway. A computerized voice squawks elevation warnings. Forty feet. Thirty. Twenty. Ten. Touchdown.
Outside the cockpit window sit nearly
a hundred airplane carcasses, perfectly lined up. They are jets that nobody
wants anymore. And -- after 26,057 takeoffs and landings -- this 24-year-old
American Airlines plane is about to join them.
"This is my first time here, and
it's a sad place," First Officer Robert Popp tells the control tower.
Airlines used to store planes in the desert during slow travel months.
Sometimes, unwanted jets would be sold to carriers in Russia or Africa. Today,
a man on the other end of the radio responds, "they're chopping them
up."
Airlines are on the largest jet-buying
spree in the history of aviation, ordering more than 8,200 new planes with
manufacturers Airbus SAS and The Boeing Co. in the past five years. There are
now a combined 24 planes rolling off assembly lines each week, up from 11 a
decade ago. And that rate is expected to keep climbing.
The new planes allow the airlines to
save on fuel, now their biggest cost, while offering passengers more amenities
-- some for a fee. Passengers can plug in to work or be entertained by a
seat-back TV and fly some international routes nonstop for the first time. And
the commercial divisions of Boeing and Airbus get a steady stream of cash for
years, which is a key reason investors have doubled the companies' stock price
in the past year.
The bulk of the planes are going to
new or quickly-growing airlines that serve an expanding middle class in India
and the rest of Asia. The International Air Transport Association expects the
number of passengers worldwide to grow 31 percent to 3.9 billion in the next
four years.
U.S. airlines are buying as well.
After suffering through the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, bankruptcies and
recessions, they're now strong enough financially to buy new jets. Domestic
carriers spent $11.6 billion last year on capital improvements -- including new
planes -- up from $5.2 billion in 2010.
With the price of fuel nearly four
times what it was 10 years ago, airlines need to replace aging gas-guzzlers --
like the American 757 that Capt. Wannberg parked in the desert in Roswell.
The plane showed its age. Many
armrests originally came with ashtrays. The seatback pocket on 27D was hanging
by its last thread. And the window shade at 1F wouldn't close. American would
have had to spend $6 million to $10 million for heavy maintenance checks on the
airframe, overhauls of the engines and other part replacements to keep the
plane flying.
Instead, it went to Roswell. There,
the dry air prevents the aluminum airframe from corroding. Spare parts will be
harvested from the jet; eventually it will be chopped up for scrap metal.
It's a fate many U.S. planes are
facing. On Monday, Delta Air Lines retired the last of its DC-9s, a 35-year-old
jet that had been the workhorse of U.S. airlines for decades. Over the past
five years U.S. airlines have retired nearly 1,300 other planes -- more than 20
a month -- to various desert facilities in the last five years, according to
Flightglobal's Ascend Online Fleets, which sells and tracks information about
aircraft.
American's old 757 will be replaced by
one of 460 new single-aisle jets that the airline ordered in July 2011 -- the
largest single airplane order in history. The first one entered service on
Sept. 16, and American is currently taking delivery of an additional new plane
every week -- models like the A321 from Airbus or the Boeing 737.
Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways,
Spirit Airlines and just about every other U.S. carrier has a large order in
place. Nearly 1,500 new planes will be delivered to U.S. airlines by Airbus and
Boeing over the next decade. Several hundred smaller regional jets are also on order
with other manufacturers.
"We are producing twice as many
airplanes today as we were 10 years ago," says Mary Prettyman, Airbus'
vice president of strategic marketing for the Americas. It will take Airbus
eight years to fill all its current orders. "It's unprecedented."
The new planes cater to passengers'
changing habits. Instead of reading a paperback book or magazine from the
airport gift shop, travelers today are surfing the Internet or reading on their
Kindle or iPads.
American designed the interior of its
new planes with the concept that "your life should never be interrupted
because you are flying," says Alice Liu, managing director for onboard
products for the airline.
So this new generation of planes
provide passengers with larger overhead bins, power outlets and USB ports,
better lighting and a less-claustrophobic feel. There's also less noise and -- in many cases -- individual TVs.
"We want to give you a sense of
as much space as possible," says Mike Henny, Delta's director of customer
experience. "A darker space doesn't feel as spacious as a lighter
one."
Some models can fly longer distances,
opening up new nonstop routes. And the planes are more reliable, meaning fewer
mechanical delays or cancellations.
Then there are the showoff features,
meant to woo high-paying customers. First class passengers between New York and
Los Angeles or San Francisco on American will benefit from an on-board
cappuccino machine starting this week. JetBlue is adding four seats that will
be walled off from the rest of the cabin with their own doors in its new
premium cabin on the same routes starting with Los Angeles June 15.
The decision to buy new planes is being driven by high fuel prices, low interest rates and Wall Street financing mechanisms that allow airlines with junk bond ratings to borrow money at favorable terms. American was even able to borrow $2.7 billion for new planes while it was still in bankruptcy restructuring.
"It certainly is an opportunistic
time. There's no doubt about that," says John D. Rainey, United Airlines'
chief financial officer.
U.S. airlines burn through 16 billion
gallons of jet fuel a year. A decade ago, they were paying 84 cents a gallon.
Last year, paying more than $3 a gallon, U.S. airlines spent $50 billion on
fuel.
To cut its fuel costs, United is
replacing some of its domestic 757s with 100 new 737-900ERs. The planes burn 15
percent less fuel per passenger. There is also a significant maintenance
savings. The 737's engines can run twice as long before needing a
multimillion-dollar overhaul.
While each new plane -- which comes
with a $96.1 million list price, though airlines always negotiate deep
discounts -- United hopes to save nearly $2.5 million a year.
"The whole operating economics of
the industry has changed," says Randy Tinseth, vice president, marketing,
for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.