World's youngest airplane fleets revealed

Europe and China compete for world's youngest fleets. Africa and North America to come in last.

Who would expect that two Europeaan low-cost airlines would have some of the youngest aircraft in the world? As millions of people head to the airport to go on summer vacation, ch-aviation has crunched the numbers to find out who has the world's youngest fleet.

 

In first place is Norwegian UK, taking out the title of world's youngest fleet. The average age of a Norwegian UK plane is just under one year. Rounding out the rest of the world's top five – all with an average fleet age of less than two years – are Colorful Guizhou Airlines and Loong Air from China, Germany's Eurowings, and Swiss Global Air Lines.

 

"What our data clearly shows is the tremendous growth in Europe and Asia over the past few years while they move to lower-cost models," said Thomas Jaeger, ch-aviation CEO. "And Chinese start-ups have the benefit of good access to capital for new aircraft."

The bottom five was quite a different story, with Africa and North America doing battle for the oldest fleets. In bottom position is Kenya's Fly SAX with an average aircraft age of 36 years old, followed by Nolinor Aviation (Canada), African Express Airways (Kenya), Western Air Bahamas, and Pacific Coastal Airlines (Canada).

"Obviously we see something quite different in Canada and Kenya, which both have a lot of smaller carriers operating in remote areas," Jaeger says. "And many African airlines which want to expand simply don't have the cash for brand new aircraft."

Taking out top spots for youngest fleet on each continent were:

Africa – RwandAir;

Asia – Colorful Guizhou Airlines;

Europe – Norwegian UK;

Northern America – WestJet Encore;

Oceania – Air Tahiti;

South America – Conviasa.

A full list of the youngest and oldest fleets is attached.

A note on methodology: ch-aviation included only commercial carriers with five or more aircraft with 30-plus seats.

Worldwide – youngest

Operator	Average aircraft age	Home base	No of aircraft incl.
Norwegian UK	0.99	Europe	5
Colorful Guizhou Airlines	1.21	Asia	6
Loong Air	1.73	Asia	22
Eurowings	1.77	Europe	23
Swiss Global Air Lines	1.78	Europe	19

 

 

Africa – youngest

RwandAir	4.21	Rwanda	12
Kenya Airways	5.11	Kenya	32
Royal Air Maroc Express	5.15	Morocco	5
Air Arabia Maroc	5.32	Morocco	7
Air Austral	5.53	Reunion	9

 

Asia – youngest

Colorful Guizhou Airlines	1.21	China	6
Loong Air	1.73	China	22
Vistara	1.81	India	15
Batik Air	1.97	Indonesia	49
Qingdao Airlines	2.05	China	13

 

Europe – youngest

Norwegian UK	0.99	Norway	5
Eurowings	1.77	Germany	23
Swiss Global Air Lines	1.78	Switzerland	19
WOW air	2.05	Iceland	15
Canarias Airlines	2.76	Spain	7

        

North America – Youngest        

WestJet Encore	2.23	Canada	40
LIAT	3.34	Antigua & Barbuda	10
Intel Aviation	4.22	USA	6
Volaris	4.55	Mexico	67
VivaAeroBus	5.06	Mexico	23

 

Oceania – youngest

Air Tahiti	4.31	French Polynesia	10
Virgin Australia International	5.78	Australia	20
Jetconnect	6.97	New Zealand	8
Air New Zealand	7.04	New Zealand	54
Virgin Australia	7.18	Australia	90

 

South America – youngest

Conviasa	3.56	Venezuela	9
LATAM Airlines Chile	3.61	Chile	68
Avianca Brasil	4.18	Brazil	46
Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras	5.21	Brazil	124
Avianca	5.35	Colombia	96

 

 

Worldwide – oldest

Operator	Average aircraft age	Home base	No of aircraft incl.
Fly SAX	36.81	Africa	5
Nolinor Aviation	34.82	North America	6
African Express Airways	32.89	Africa	7
Western Air Bahamas	29.13	North America	7
Pacific Coastal Airlines	28.62	North America	7

 

Africa – oldest

Fly SAX	36.81	Kenya	5
African Express Airways	32.89	Kenya	7
Global Aviation Operations	28.08	South Africa	5
Dana Air	27.04	Nigeria	6
Skyward Express	26.33	Kenya	15

 

Asia – oldest

Kam Air	26.84	Afghanistan	6
Trigana Air Service	25.52	Indonesia	12
Iran Aseman Airlines	25.40	Iran	24
Avia Traffic Company	25.26	Kyrgyzstan	5
Kish Air	25.08	Iran	9

                           

Europe – oldest          

Bukovyna Airlines	27.66	Ukraine	5
NextJet	27.52	Sweden	13
SprintAir	26.45	Poland	5
Bulgarian Air Charter	25.88	Bulgaria	17
DOT - Danu oro transportas	25.85	Lithuania	9

 

North America – Oldest

Nolinor Aviation	34.82	Canada	6
Western Air Bahamas	29.13	Bahamas	7
Pacific Coastal Airlines	28.62	Canada	7
Magnicharters	28.16	Mexico	9
Swift Air (USA)	27.29	USA	11

 

Oceania – oldest

Skippers Aviation	25.10	Australia	18
Alliance Airlines	24.61	Australia	33
Virgin Australia Regional	24.50	Australia	16
Network Aviation	24.11	Australia	17
Hevilift (PNG)	23.83	Papua New Guinea	5

 

South America – oldest

Peruvian Airlines	27.19	Peru	12
Laser Airlines	26.96	Venezuela	9
Aerovías DAP	26.60	Chile	11
Star Perú	26.49	Peru	9
Avior Airlines	26.39	Venezuela	15