easyJet is accelerating the retirement of its 79 remaining Airbus A319ceos and will exit the last aircraft from the fleet by FY29. That is a year earlier than what the UK carrier said last November. The high fuel and maintenance costs of the older aircraft are key drivers behind the decision that easyJet announced today in its HY26 earnings presentation.
The fleet includes 61 leased and 18 owned A319s, which made up 22 percent of easyJet’s fleet of 356 aircraft by the end of March. The number had already come down by three aircraft since March last year. Six additional A319s will be retired in FY28, with all aircraft having left by FY29.
Retiring the A319s saves the airline £110 million in costs in FY27 and another £140 million in FY28, or £250 million in total in incremental annual cost savings. About half of that is savings on operational costs, and the other half is lower fuel costs. With an additional 90 larger A320neos and A321neos coming in this FY26 through FY28, the upgauge effect on capacity is four percent in FY27 and five percent in FY28.
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