Why are airlines not required by law to update their planes more often and use newer models? Many commercial planes being used today are older than most people on this website.

Question

Is there no safety issue there?

In: Other

Answer 1

>Many commercial planes being used today are older than most people on this website.

So what? The average age of some group of people is not the benchmark by which we judge engineering standards. Do you know how many houses or other buildings that are currently in use are older than *any* currently living person? Imagine if you were forced to buy the newest model car every time it came out instead of driving the one you have now that’s perfectly fine?

Airplanes and their components are built to be able to last at least a certain number flight-hours. Unless there’s been some sort of damage, the component or the airframe itself will last that long, whether it takes 4 years or 40 years. Airplanes undergo regular maintenance and aging parts are replaced as needed and as mandated by law. When the airframe is aging, it’s retired. There’s no need to replace it before that just because a newer model came out. As new safety features are required, airlines implement them (what safety regulations governments deem necessary is an entirely separate topic).