As commercial aircraft move between operators, the passenger experience hard product inside them — seats, IFE, galleys, monuments, and so on — may change as well.
The point of transition may be marking a sale and refurbishment, or the ending of a lease period and the concomitant transfer of the aircraft back to the lessor before delivery to its next operator.
But in a time when the retirement and scrapping of older aircraft has been accelerated by COVID-19, what changes are to be expected in the transition market as a result?
Surplus seats
Airframers have reduced production rates in order to avoid aircraft destined for failed airlines — either direct buyers or via lessors — piling up at assembly lines, whether in full livery or ‘white-tail’ aircraft. Airbus’ rate reduction, for example, has avoided a glut of unsold aircraft, says Mark Pearman Wright, head of marketing for leasing, trading and investors.