New Heights for Domestic Airlines

Delta Air Lines’ recent $10 billion order for new passenger jets is good news for the air traveler and the Southern California economy. New planes are safer planes, and the recent massive airline orders will weed out aging aircraft from the commercial fleet. The $5 billion-plus portion of the Delta order placed with McDonnell Douglas Corp. triggers production of the firm’s new MD-90 jet at the Long Beach plant and cushions the region against possible defense contract cutbacks.

Both Boeing of Seattle, recipient of the balance of the Delta order, and McDonnell Douglas have had their problems. Boeing, suffering delays in delivering aircraft, has just emerged from a seven-week-long strike. McDonnell Douglas has struggled through a painful management restructuring, but now is embarked on its new generation of passenger aircraft. The MD-90 is the successor to the MD-80, the tail-mounted twin-jet workhorse of many airlines for short and medium-range flights. It will be quieter, less polluting and will be about 15% more fuel-efficient than existing planes.

McDonnell Douglas also is going into production on a new wide-body jet, the MD-11, successor to the tri-jet DC-10, carrying from 245 to more than 400 passengers. The firm made a large sale of MD-11s to American Airlines earlier this year at a price of more than $100 million each. And in April, United Air Lines announced a $16 billion order of 370 planes from Boeing that will significantly rejuvenate the United fleet.

There could be a downside to the recent plane orders: The five biggest airlines are likely to increase their dominance of the commercial passenger field, since all have substantial numbers of new aircraft coming into their fleets. Airline experts argue that weaker firms with older fleets will fall further behind just by standing still. Members of Congress who fear too much airline consolidation and favor some measure of re-regulation will be watching closely.

But the revitalization of the airline fleet with massive orders of new planes during both 1988 and 1989 is a most positive development. The average age of the 5,200 planes flown on domestic routes is 14 years. More than 40% are at least 20 years old. When the older, noiser, less-efficient jets are retired, the American passenger public will enjoy a much more comfortable and safer ride.