Does REX have the oldest commercial (passenger) aircraft of any size in Oz?

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Melburnian1

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With Regional Express' SAAB 340B VH-EKD having celebrated its 30th birthday on 10 August 2019 (apologies for the late card, I can't blame Australia Post), is this aircraft the oldest Australian-domiciled regular public transport aircraft flying one of the 'top 55' BITRE routes?

REX is notable for having the largest worldwide fleet of this type of aircraft.

I'm excluding operators with the smallest aircraft, such as Sharp Aviation, although to be fair REX once had those 19 seat Metroliners IIRC.

We've discussed before the median age of REX's fleet: high.

Aviator and AFFer job747's quick (and interesting) take was that eventually the cost of fleet replacement will 'get' Regional Express, as I'd asked whether it could survive in the long term given its increasingly elderly aircraft at some stage will presumably need replacement.
 
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Quickstatus said:
By comparison, across the pacific, DL is known to have some high 20's-30yr old aircraft especially the MD80/90. Proper maintenance can keep an aircraft operating safely for many years.
I dont think age per se is an issue. They have parts. Not sure how long the parts will last for. And a fully depreciated asset creating free cash flow is not a bad thing at all.
Click to expand...

I believe aircraft have a maximum air-frame hours, where the body of the aircraft is no longer serviceable due to too many repeated stresses. metal fatigue is the final killer, so eventually no matter how many spare parts you have, the plane will need to be retired.
 
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Jonesaus said:
I believe aircraft have a maximum air-frame hours, where the body of the aircraft is no longer serviceable due to too many repeated stresses. metal fatigue is the final killer, so eventually no matter how many spare parts you have, the plane will need to be retired.
Click to expand...
Not an issue in itself. Parts of the frame can be removed and replaced. Provided parts are available and maintenance is done properly, an aircraft can be kept in service indefinitely.
The killer is cost. The older the aircraft is, the more costly the needed maintenance becomes.
An aircraft will be retired when the operator deems the required level of maintenance needed for an aging aircraft to be no longer be worth the cost.

There are still 50 odd 737-200s, the last of which was built in early 1974, in service.
There are still WW2 era aircraft in flying condition.
 
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Out of 26 posts:
6 are on-topic, ie talking craft age on planes in Oz
20 are off topic ie talking OS planes, replacements etc

Mods, perhaps a thread name change to reflect what the thread has been become, ie discussion on small commercial passenger aircraft
 
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I am not sure of how accurate this web site is but this may be the source of the age for the Skytrans fleet data that I was referring to:


You have to go down and look at the current fleet list to find VH-QQB, and again - if you believe this site - initial delivery into service was in 1984.


Seems to be doing FIFO work in QLD, has a long and interesting career seen here:

VH-TQO de Havilland Canada DHC-8-102

history of eastern australia de havilland canada dhc-8-102 vh-tqo cn 004.
www.aussieairliners.org
 
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Jonesaus said:
I believe aircraft have a maximum air-frame hours, where the body of the aircraft is no longer serviceable due to too many repeated stresses. metal fatigue is the final killer, so eventually no matter how many spare parts you have, the plane will need to be retired.
Click to expand...
DC-3 are still flying. The B-52 while military also still flying. Several freight airlines like Fedex still operate the DC-10 (MD-10)
In general aviation, there are many aircraft from the 60s still operating safely.

But yes eventually everything needs to be replaced due to relative cost. However the problem is availability of parts (the crunch time appears from ZL announcements to be many years into the future), and suitable replacement aircraft. Its hard to know the cost of replacing the aircraft when the replacement candidate does not exist.

I would readily fly ZL Saabs as I believe the aircraft to be safe and reliable. ZL appears to have competitive on time performance as well.
 
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