What a good day for United Airlines! What a bad day for United Airlines.
New aircraft on the way after all these years. Bu-bye to the B777, B747 and B7676. I can't imagine how much longer behind that the B757 will go as well. Is this just the long downward spiral TWA was in because they didn't have anybody interested in running an airline.
Hmmm? I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say here. If I'm reading you right you're bemoaning the fact that old airplanes will be parked and more efficient ones will replace them. I don't understand.....how is this a bad thing?
Hey, I love what we currently are flying but let's face it, so did the guys flying the DC-8, DC-10, 727's, etc. Right now they're loving the 777's, the 767's, and the 747's! Our oldest 747 is past 20 years, the oldest 777 is at 14.5 years, and our first 767-300 has been doing duty for just shy of 19 years.
When Steve Wolf inked the huge deal with Boeing that ushered in the new 747's and 777's it was a stellar moment. This deal may not seem to be the same but when you look at it from a long-term strategic viewpoint it signals where UAL "intends" to focus and how it's planning on doing so with operating cost savings as a key element.
Yeah, so the 747's and 777's will eventually be replaced by A350's. So what. Who really cares especially IF the new airplanes, both Boeing and Airbus, actually deliver the efficiencies they promise and our customers get a better product to fly. The increased range the new aircraft promise to deliver has the potential to open up many more city pairs than we currently can operate due to range limitations.
Now, the big unknown is what will replace the 757 lift. We currently operate 97 757's and the 787 is a much bigger aircraft so I seriously doubt that'll be replacing the 757's. The A321 is old technology and really isn't in the same league with the 757. At this point nothing really is. Perhaps Boeing will see how the 787 does and make a narrow-body variant of it (i.e. 767/757) that will enable a single type rating for both aircraft. Airbus I believe is in a more precarious position here as they really don't have anything in the 200 seat range that can fill that need, the A330 being much too big and also "old" technology.
As the size of the order goes the current firm order and possible options seems about right. The current UAL widebody fleet is 113 aircraft (26 -400's/52-777's/35-767's). The options on the 787 side of the order probably accounts for some growth as the aircraft will definitely have the range to open up a lot of long thin markets and increased hub-to-hub lift.
As others have stated, we'll know a lot more in a few years. But right now I'm pretty pleased with what cards have been turned up.
Cheers,
Z B)
