the 757's future at AA

[AdAstraPerAspera]

Ok, so I know officially the 757s days are numbered with AA, but am I wrong to think that there are South American missions from MIA and other cities that really necessitate the 757?
 
Ok, so I am an FA, not a pilot or an engineer, but is there in existence an equivalent aircraft that can operate at payload with maximum revenue return out of hot & high cities like Quito, Tegucigalpa, La Paz, Cali, Medellin, etc...?
 
Not to mention the flights to Venezuela which, although they do not technically need a 757, require it because of the service-- main cabin meals which require aft galley ovens to heat and serve coach meals? (the 737s obviously don't have these)
 
Do you think it would be necessary to retire the old RR engined AA 757s and replace them with newer build ones for these specific South American markets?
 
just spitballin here

 

[jimntx]

Where would we get them? Other airlines who fly the 757 like them as much as those of us who work them at AA. It's just about my favorite--especially when you have a full meal to serve in F/C. That galley works exceedingly well. However, Boeing doesn't make them anymore; so, we would have to pick them up on the used airplane market. If the RR engines are the problem, could ours not be fitted with another brand?

 

[AirLUVer]

Unfortunately the 757 and 767 family do not have interchangeable engines, lots of structural differences that make it too costly to convert. For many routes the 767-300 or the 787-800 will be the replacement aircraft. A few will end up on the A32X family.

 

[MetalMover]

Ok, so I know officially the 757s days are numbered with AA, but am I wrong to think that there are South American missions from MIA and other cities that really necessitate the 757?
 
Ok, so I am an FA, not a pilot or an engineer, but is there in existence an equivalent aircraft that can operate at payload with maximum revenue return out of hot & high cities like Quito, Tegucigalpa, La Paz, Cali, Medellin, etc...?
 
Not to mention the flights to Venezuela which, although they do not technically need a 757, require it because of the service-- main cabin meals which require aft galley ovens to heat and serve coach meals? (the 737s obviously don't have these)
 
Do you think it would be necessary to retire the old RR engined AA 757s and replace them with newer build ones for these specific South American markets?
 
just spitballin here

Some airlines feel like you do.....
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-11/boeing-ponders-transcontinental-plane-to-replace-757.html

 

[737823]

MIA-CCS goes all 738s in a few weeks. I wonder what they will do for meal service on YC with no ovens in the aft galley.

Josh

 

[boston]

737 in M/C is a cold meal, usually a deli sandwich, chips, desert or Taco/Chef salad. All though some get snarky about the cold meal, most are ok with it. There is always more food on the tray is cold.

 

[commavia]

Ok, so I know officially the 757s days are numbered with AA, but am I wrong to think that there are South American missions from MIA and other cities that really necessitate the 757?
 
Ok, so I am an FA, not a pilot or an engineer, but is there in existence an equivalent aircraft that can operate at payload with maximum revenue return out of hot & high cities like Quito, Tegucigalpa, La Paz, Cali, Medellin, etc...?

 
It's true that the 757 does have certain unique performance capabilities such as relatively long range and exceptional short-field/hot-and-high characteristics - largely owing to its powerplants - that are difficult for other, similarly-sized, jets to replicate.  Nonetheless, the list of airports where such capabilities are truly critical is relatively short, and I suspect AA will be able to handle the transition away from 757s fairly easily in the near-term through a mix of A319s and 767s.  AA has already started placing A319s - which also have relatively good short-field/hot-and-high performance - into some markets that were traditionally the domain of 757s at AA, such as EGE.  I expect that to continue as more markets, including some out of MIA, move to A319s.  (Example: I could see TGU going from 7x weekly 757s to, say, 10x weekly A319s).  As for some of AA's other hot-and-high South America markets like Bolivia, I could easily imagine MIA-LPB-VVI-MIA transitioning to 767s displaced by the soon-to-arrive 787s.  A 767 should be able to handle LPB/VVI, and other South America runs like BSB, BOG, etc. 
 
For now, though, I don't think the 757s are totally going away.  I agree that it seems AA is prioritizing parking them - likely due to age and maintenance - but the 20 jets configured with the international J cabin I suspect will stay longer, likely used in some of the 'thinner' markets in South America (SSA, other expansion markets like FOR, etc.) and Europe (JFK-DUB, PHL-AMS, maybe some smaller/non-hub LHR routes like PIT, BDL, etc.).

 

[bigjets]

I'm willing to bet that AA isn't concerned so much with food service, DFW-HNL or ORD-HNL HAS buy on board, the A319 is cheaper to operate and less seats on a market means higher price seats and more profit. That's my take.

 

[wcs]

The 767 cannot operate at LPB. The altitude limitation for landing is 8400ft. I don't know if modifications to the aircraft would permit those operations. The A319 is capable of operating at LPB

 

[commavia]

The 767 cannot operate at LPB. The altitude limitation for landing is 8400ft. I don't know if modifications to the aircraft would permit those operations. The A319 is capable of operating at LPB

 
Interesting.  Didn't know that, as I believe AeroSur and perhaps other operators have flown 763s into LPB before, but I could be wrong and either way not sure what engines/configuration those jets may have had.  Nonetheless, given that, perhaps LPB could continue to use some of the JY-configured 757s until the A321NEOs come along?

 

[wcs]

Only A319 have airport capability above 8400 feet,not current AA A321s. I don't know if NEOs will have the capability.

 

[Mach85ER]

 
Interesting.  Didn't know that, as I believe AeroSur and perhaps other operators have flown 763s into LPB before, but I could be wrong and either way not sure what engines/configuration those jets may have had.  Nonetheless, given that, perhaps LPB could continue to use some of the JY-configured 757s until the A321NEOs come along?

 
>8400 is probably a 767 option that AA didn't purchase.
 
After flying the 757 in there many times, I'm not sure that I'd want to experience the 767 into there. Even the well performing 757 with plenty of power elsewhere resembles a ground loving pig there. Raise the nose on rotation everywhere but LPB, it leaps into the air. At LPB? It drives along on the mains with the nose in the air for what seems to be a mile until finally breaking ground around 225 MPH (statue).

 

[eolesen]

It was just as bad in the DC-8...

 

[FWAAA]

>8400 is probably a 767 option that AA didn't purchase.
 
After flying the 757 in there many times, I'm not sure that I'd want to experience the 767 into there. Even the well performing 757 with plenty of power elsewhere resembles a ground loving pig there. Raise the nose on rotation everywhere but LPB, it leaps into the air. At LPB? It drives along on the mains with the nose in the air for what seems to be a mile until finally breaking ground around 225 MPH (statue).

And that's with a very light load of fuel, right?   Don't the LPB flights still stop in VVI for fuel before returning to MIA?
 
Good thing the youngest 757s (the 20 configured with angled-flat J seats) are only about 11-14 years old, so they've got plenty of life left in them.   

 

[nycbusdriver]

And that's with a very light load of fuel, right?   Don't the LPB flights still stop in VVI for fuel before returning to MIA?
 
Good thing the youngest 757s (the 20 configured with angled-flat J seats) are only about 11-14 years old, so they've got plenty of life left in them.   

 
The age of the airframe really doesn't make much difference.  If they are 11-14 years old, the engines have probably been replaced (maybe several times) already.  The performance is really based on the engines, and jet engines don't really deteriorate in power very much, if at all, over the time they are permitted by FAR to remain on an airliner.