That Is One Sad-Looking Former Spirit Airlines Plane... In Vietnam

I’ve seen airframes abandoned for years beside a runway in better condition than that!

Yes, you are the only one that wants to try this new airline.

I haven't figured it out yet but somehow this is Bilt's fault.

That looks like someone put giant duct tape to keep the two halves of the fuselage together... Duct tape works everywhere!

I was on the plane last month. They do have the old Spirit cabin includind the big front seats.

F&B is for purchase, pretty average leisure carrier.

Random avgeek posts are the best OMAAT posts.

I'm sure I saw that plane 2 weeks ago at SGN thinking it was a convergant plane. I also saw a Cubana plane in HAN last week

In Thailand, there’s also a former WOW plane that all purple, except for the tail that’s been repainted in VietJet Thailand livery

Somehow appropriate that the ex-Spirit planes are the raggedy ones!

10/10 omaat artcle. I love these weird little things. To be fair Spirit said bye to this plane a while back, none of their recently mass retired planes have found new homes yet.

I always wonder how do those smaller planes get to their new carriers on the other side of the world?

And to follow: Is there a marketplace that shows all the planes that are for sale/ lease that carriers trying to unload/ pick up?

Makes me smile that the young av geek blogger is called "Papa".

OMG it really IS a Spirit plane! We saw this yesterday at SGN. Thanks, Ben.

I'm guessing this one went via Alaska and Japan to reach Vietnam. Or it could have gone to Hawaii, Guam, and then Vietnam.

A lot of planes are owned by leasing companies, rather than airlines. Especially one that flies for a bankrupt airline.

But if you google, you can find some planes for sale: https://www.globalplanesearch.com/aircraft-for-sale/airbus

In this case it works to hide the Spirit logo.

I see a yellow plane right now at SGN domestic terminal 3, thanks for this article great timing!

El Al bought right now two former Southwest 737-800. The first of them landed in Ben Gurion on February 12

I flew with this airline. They book complete tour packages very inexpensively. We flew from Saigon to Danang (maybe 45 minutes), and they ut us on a tour bus to explore the central area of the country. The plane was fine. Certainly better than Ryan Air or Whizz, but what isn't?

I find this article, I think nostalgic, not really sure. Last time I saw Ton Son Nuht base was in 1967, as my Pan Am flight back to the real world was taking off, on after-burner. The first time I saw it was one year earlier as the Continental 707 dove for the deck from 40,000 ft. to the runway. To say things have changed might qualify for understatement of the year. Someday I might go back.

Last time I connected through Ho Chi Minh, I saw at least six aircraft in Thomas Cook livery with basic VietJet stickers, years after TCX shuttered.

With no passengers and no cargo and a full load of fuel, the range is probably about 50% more than your routine commercial flight. You see 737s fly initial delivery flights from Seattle to Europe and Asia all the time.

I wonder if former Sprit pilots are flying them?

Based on the relative humidity, Ho Chi Minh might as well be Fort Lauderdale in August. Pardon, I meant… Fraud Liquordale.

I hope you do, AlanZ. Vietnam today is lovely, especially as a tourist. You really can’t go wrong. If in the north, Halong Bay or Ninh Bing is worth it. The beaches in the south and near Cam Ranh impressed us, too. No, it’s nothing like during the war; and, it’s relatively modern and open. If you’re into pho, your taste buds will thank you. I’m pretty sure LH flies FRA-HAN/SGN, too.