My flight was delayed because the main computer on the plain broke. I am interested to know where do they keep spare airplanes and what steps do they need to go through before they can act as a replacement.
Thanks!
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Airlines with a lot of aircraft can swap planes at times. Other times, they just need to send the part (and sometimes a mechanic) to the AOG (aircraft on ground) plane. There are specialty logistics companies that handle this work, and have a few options to get the parts to the AOG plane. Fly it on another airline, drive it , or charter a plane. Depending on the cost of the AOG plane, the airline will determine what they’ll do to get plane off ground ASAP. They also have an option to borrow a part from another airline. This is called Loan and Borrow and that has a cost and logistics to return associated with it.
Southwest’s advantage is they only have one type of plane so swapping out and making sure you have the correct pilot and staff for the equipment and having the correct parts is much easier for them.
Among all the other obvious reasons, this is also a main reason why I refuse to fly budget airlines. They either don’t have enough aircraft to swap or not going to pay the cost to get the AOG part there ASAP.
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