Allegiant Air to Add Airbus A319 Aircraft to Fleet
Allegiant Airbus A319
Allegiant Air today announced its intention to lease nine Airbus A319 aircraft from GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) and to lease and eventually purchase ten Airbus A319 aircraft from Cebu Pacific Air.
The introduction of the A319 aircraft will support Allegiant’s growth opportunities.
“The A319 is a new aircraft type for Allegiant, but we otherwise see this as a continuation of our existing business model,” said Andrew C. Levy, Allegiant President. “A319 asset values have significantly declined and now mirror the environment we saw when we first began buying MD-80s.”
Allegiant plans to have the first two of these aircraft in operation in the second quarter of 2013.
Allegiant currently operates 58 MD-80 aircraft, four Boeing 757-200 aircraft and owns an additional two Boeing 757-200 aircraft.
Allegiant
Category: Airnation
Ahh they’re buying “used” A319′s? I’m sure they’re a lot cheaper (as the article indicated) but i hope they don’t expect the same lasting reliability that they’ve been getting from their MD80′s… Examining the dispatch reliability ratings for the MD80 (98.9 percent) and aging A319 (96.0 percent), they’re pretty far apart. According to Delta (which has an overall average of 99.49 percent), the A319 has the lowest dispatch reliability rating in their fleet!!
Good point Chris. But there is a big difference: fuel. Fuel costs are KILLING everybody. MD-80. Enough said. Love the plane though…
I’m a fan of many aircraft types. I started out as an avionics tech for Frontier Airlines on B737-200/300′s. Most of the old timer mechanics there were bashing Frontier for going all Airbus, but I’ll tell you what… Those A319′s are very reliable and very line maintenance friendly. Many of those old timers won’t go back to a Boeing or MD’s now. They love how easy A320 series aircraft are to repair. The oldest A320 series aircraft I’ve ever messed with was 17 years old owned by United. That flight deck looked just as nice as a 5 year old plane, some normal wear and tear, but nothing like the wear and tear of a 17 year old B757. I’ve also worked on United’s B757 and 767′s, and man are those things run down, inside and out, but still flying about…
In the end, it’s the carriers that determine how the planes survive. I know that Frontier and JetBlue take very good care of their Airbus aircraft, and it hard to tell which tin can is older than the other when compared side by side. The A319, new or used, will be a great transition for Allegiant and will save them alot of money in fuel alone.
Like all 30 year old planes, The MD-80′s days are numbered… Look at American, they too are replacing their fleet of Mad Dogs with Airbus A320 series aircraft. Delta is replacing their Mad Dogs with Southwest/Airtran’s B717′s.
I think anyone who has never worked on or flown an A320 series aircraft really should stop being haters. Airbus make a damn good airframe. You shouldn’t hate what you don’t know. Just sayin’
That’s really interesting, because according to Delta Air Lines, the DC9 has the highest dispatch reliability than any other aircraft in their fleet. Their MD88s also have a higher dispatch reliability rating than their A319s. From what I’ve heard from mechanics, the DC9/MD80 is easier and cheaper to maintain than Airbus models.
Airbus models are very nice aircraft, but they have much shorter lifespans than equivalent models from Douglas and Boeing.