When supply chains Stall, Lease return Hurt: Why aging fleets are everyone’s maintenance problem now
The airline had planned to retire an aircraft two summers ago. New aircraft were supposed to be in service, lease returns neatly sequenced, heavy checks spaced out. Instead, supply-chain delays pushed deliveries to the right, the aircraft kept flying, and what was meant to be a clean re-delivery turned into an overworked asset with tired interiors, deferred cabin fixes, and line maintenance teams holding it together day by day.