ALASKA AIRLINES TO RETIRE A321 NEO FLEET

True to its north-western roots, Alaska Airlines is preparing to transition back to an all-Boeing fleet. For a period of time measurable in years, the Seattle-based air-carrier has been divesting itself of Airbus narrow-body aircraft come to it by way of the carrier's 2016 acquisition of Virgin America, which operated an all-Airbus fleet.

Late in 2020, as part of a sweeping fleet simplification initiative, Alaska announced plans to retire the entirety of its Airbus aircraft by 2023. At that time, the airline's roster of in-service planes comprised nearly seventy Airbus jets, including ten A319s, 49 A320s and ten A321neos. Over the last two years, Alaska retired its complements of A319s and A320s, Ergo, the only Airbus model remaining on the carrier's chopping-block is the A321neo, the suffix of which might now connote newly-excluded from operations.