Date: 11 Jul 97 02:09:25
From: no@junk.mail (Mike)
Organization: Texas Instruments
References: 1 2
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In article <airliners.1997.1351@ohare.Chicago.COM>, mweber@cyberltd.com.au
says...
>
>Marc Schaeffer <marcmsc@geocities.com> wrote in article
><airliners.1997.1345@ohare.Chicago.COM>...
>> I wonder which a/c NW will replace with the A319. As we know NW has
>> invested a lot of money to upgrade the flight systems and quiet the
>> engines of 173 DC-9 jets it is operating.
>
>The Published information says it will be D9's that are replaced. They
>got the D9's from Republic/(Hughes Air West, North Central, Southern),
>and some of them are very very old (-20's and -15's). My guess is that
>only the 'younger' D9's have been upgraded.
NW operates -10, -30, -40, -50 and -80s. I've never heard of a -15 before,
prehaps it is a variant of the -10? Note there are also no -20s. If
Republic did operate them then I can't say where they went.
It is my understanding that only the -30s have been referbished, which
account for the majority of NW's DC9s. The -10s (22 of them) were originally
to be replaced by regional jets (operated by Mesaba under the Northwest Jet
Link nameplate), but a few months ago NW retracted and stated that money had
been set asside to referbish 10 -10s. Although it never publicly commited
this, I suspect the remaining 12 will be indeed be retired and replaced by
RJs, especially since (surprise) Mesaba has 12 RJs on order.
I don't know why the press is saying NW will replace the MD-80 (8), 727 (47),
and the "oldest of its DC9 fleet" with A319s. I think this is roumor and
nothing more. I say this because (1) I have yet to see anything official
from NW on the A319 MOU at all, (2) the Airbus press release says nothing
about replacements and hints at fleet expansion (3) None of the indicated
aircraft are sized right to replace with A319s. The A320 is is a better 727
and MD-80 match, and the "oldest of its DC9 fleet", the -10s, are about 40
people smaller than the A319 even if NW changed its mind about referbishment.
I think the press is maybe getting confused about NW's current A320 order
which truely is suposed to be used to replace other narrow body aircraft
being retired (no indication of which, but the MD-80s, of which NW only
operates 8, will probably go along with a few 727s).
If the A319s are to replace anything, it will probably be the -40 and -50 (47
total planes) which are covered by the base order of 50, and furthermore are
the right size and I do not believe are referbished. The 100 options if
excercised, would probably begin to eat away at the -30 fleet, the oldest of
which will coinsidentally be within the 10-15 year life span (the expected
length of time NW says they will fly the referbished birds) given current the
delivery schedule.
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