Alaska Air Group is likely chose the Boeing 737s over Airbus A320 family narrowbodies should it transition back to a single-type fleet, says chief financial officer Brandon Pedersen.
"I think it's highly unlikely that we would migrate to all-Airbus… I doubt it," he says in response to a question during Wolfe Research's Transportation Conference in New York City today. "I think that's less likely, just because of the predominance of Boeing in the fleet."
Pedersen stresses that Alaska continues to study fleet options and has not yet decided whether it intends to keep Virgin's A320s in the fleet for the long term.
Though having two fleet types gives Alaska greater negotiating leverage with airframers, the airline has not determined if that leverage outweighs the "benefit of the simplicity of having a single fleet type", Pedersen says.
"We are doing that analysis right now," he adds.
At the end of March, Alaska Airlines operated 154 737s, while subsidiary Virgin operated 63 Airbus narrowbodies, according to financial filings.
Alaska has said it will operate Virgin's A320-family fleet until at least 2024, at which time most of Virgin's aircraft leases will have expired.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
