I saw this Wiki entryabout a 747 crash in 2002. The story mentions that prior to the crash that China AAirlines had sold the plane to another airline for $1.45 million US, though the crash obviously canceled the sale. That seems incredibly cheap to me.
This was a fully functional (if poorly maintained) plane still in service. Is it possible planes of that age (25ish years old) retail for that amount, or must it have been some kind of sweetheart deal?
Probably both. Sales of aircraft within the industry aren’t quite like three-party automotive sales, and dozens of factors might be hiding in the details.
It might also have been a worn-out craft needing $25M or more to restore to certifiable condition.
ETA: Especially when it’s Chinese companies involved. Who knows what other governmental/industry handshaking and deals might have been involved.
It was still being flown on a heavily used passenger route. I think it must have been fully certified, if only for the reason that the crash report apparently didn’t mention it.
It could have been on the verge of some of the major overhaul milestones. But sweetheart/invisible strings deal is what I suspect most.
Aren’t there aviation sites that list flight time and milestones for many of the major craft? It seems like every time we talk about a particular bird, someone drops in with detailed info about its flight and maintenance history.
Yes, flightaware.com is a good one.
It’s the market - a 25 year old aircraft has no value left as an airliner to an established airline. Even without major, *major *maintenance required (which it is), it’s still uneconomical to operate due to higher fuel burn with older engines. Even grounding it and parting it out doesn’t bring in much cash, since most aircraft that could use those parts are also grounded.
The only sort of buyer would be a shoestring operator who needs something to fly, that can be acquired cheaply enough for capital costs to be affordable, for a brief period until it conks out entirely, and then can be replaced by something similar. Or else an aluminum recycler, which is a good business btw.