Sad to hear this:
Alaska Airlines has announced that by the end of 2023, the Seattle-based carrier’s fleet will consist exclusively of Boeing 737s for mainline flights, and Embraer E175s for regional flights. This means that the airline will retire all Airbus A320-family jets, plus all Bombardier Q400 turboprops.
For context, the current fleet of Alaska Airlines and wholly owned subsidiary Horizon Air consists of 320+ planes, including the following:
- 35 Airbus A320s
- 10 Airbus A321neos
- 11 Boeing 737-700s
- 61 Boeing 737-800s
- 91 Boeing 737-900s
- 16 Boeing 737 MAX 9s
- 63 Embraer E175s
- 32 Bombardier Q400s
Source: Alaska Airlines Majorly Simplifying Fleet – One Mile at a Time
I have flown on the Q400 just twice but enjoyed the turbo prop. I understand Alaska Air’s use of Q400’s were the last remaining turbo props in used by any U.S. scheduled air carrier in the lower 48. They fly frequently into my small community airport.
Looks like half of Alaska’s 737 fleet will be the 737 MAX by end of 2023.
A lot of airliners were retired from passenger service due to the pandemic policies
- the MD-80/MD-88/MD-90
- the 717 – the MD series after MD merged with Boeing, only about 100 flew
- the Q400s
- the 747
- the 757 and 767 are being retired by many airlines
- the Airbus A-380 was retired by many global airlines, although a few are being brought back to service
- the Airbus A-340 is on the retirement list at many airlines
- the A-310 has been retired
- Embraer 190 mostly retired
- Sub-models of various aircraft also retired but the base models are still flying
Many will now be flying 737 MAX, 787 Dreamliner, 777, and Airbus A220, A320, 321neo, 330, and 350, the CRJ-200, and Embraer models.
Feeling disappointed – I was just to a point in life in early 2020 when I was going to start traveling in March 2020. Instead, I have not flown on a plane in 2 1/2 years now.
I wish I had traveled earlier in life and today I recommend that everyone seek to travel as soon as they are able. Never put off life – enjoy while you can. Never wait for a future that never comes.
Some statistics
- (Pew Research) 93% of those in the US with a college degree have traveled internationally
- 70% of those have visited 3+ countries.
- 90% of US households where the household income is more than $80k/year, have traveled internationally. 72% of those with household incomes between $30k and $80k have traveled internationally.
- In 2018, 25% of families with children traveled internationally
- In 2018, 1.4 billion people globally visited another country.
- In 2018, about 7 to 11 million US residents traveled abroad every month (varies by month)
- About 1 in 3 U.S. residents were born abroad, or studied, lived or worked abroad. I extrapolated that figure from published data.
- 1 in 5 households in the U.S. speak a language other than English at home.
