Originally Posted by fdcg27
Originally Posted by edyvw
Originally Posted by fdcg27
Boeing's most desperate need ATM is a MAX version that's considered airworthy by FAA and EASA.
Even then, Boeing has a huge backlog of completed but undelivered aircraft that most airlines will do everything they can to defer accepting in the current environment.
All that inventory sitting on the ground with little likelihood of monetizing most of it for at least a couple of years more.
With new market, XLR will be very well suited. AA was running 767-300 from PHL to DBV, and was about to shift to 787 next year. Will see demand, but XLR could do that route, not to mention Ireland, UK etc.
Over the past few decades Airbus has done extraordinary work in developing the ugly duckling stretched A320 into the current A321 swan. This is now an aircraft that can do 90% of the 757 mission with much less structural weight and much lower fuel burn. Less weight plus more current engines equals less fuel required and less fuel required equals lower structural weight, a virtuous circle.
Yeah, there are edge cases where the 757 wins, but for most routes including the closer TATL destinations, the A321 can do the job with similar passenger capacity at much lower trip cost.
Whether DBV will exist as a direct route from anywhere in the US as things return to some semblance of normal is a different question.
Yeah DBV will go back as soon as tourism rebounds. Actually that rout for AA was much more profitable than expected as they were adding slots on the fly last year, and extending season due to demand. XLR would be well suited for that route and other cities on both sides of Adriatic coast, as well as Mediterranean. Then there is Lisbon, Edinburgh, smaller cities in Central Europe, Prague, Budapest etc. Air Transat as far as I know is aiming XLR on YYZ-ZAG for example.