The Rising Cost of United’s 767 Fleet

United Airlines has a 767 problem. There are 53 in service, and the youngest are the -400s, averaging 24.4 years old, and the 34 -300s are over 30 years old. There’s some urgency to this, as we will show you.

United Airlines has stated it plans to retire its Boeing

767 fleet by around 2030 (or be well into the process by the end of the decade).  The primary replacement is the Boeing 787 family (particularly the 787-9). United has a large backlog of 787 orders, and accelerating deliveries of these more efficient, modern aircraft are enabling the phase-out of older 767s (and some older 777s).

The 767 Aging Problem

It is intriguing that United has taken so long to fix the issue it faces. After all, American Airlines did the opposite, using the pandemic as an excuse to retire all its 767s.  That was probably an error and an overreaction, as American has suffered from capacity constraints on long-haul markets. Like United, Delta has also kept its 767s in service.