a) A lot can change in 4 years which is the projected time for the 7E7 development to first flight.

That’s a good point. An airline would only have to show a small sign of success to secure a loan for a new aircraft order. They’ll have 4 years to turn things around and a lot can change in 4 years. The situations with UAL and US will surely be finalized before then which will stabilize the industry.

b) A lot of carriers have joint 757 and 767 fleets. Replacing both aircraft with a single type would benefit tight puirse strings and streamline fleets.

CAL has to have one of the youngest 757/767 fleets out there (at least in the US) which would mean any 7E7 order would be growth. That growth won’t be discussed until the said UAL and US situations have ended.

What’s the smallest order an airline could have to justify the purchase? 10? 15? 20? 30? Figuring annual operational cost of training and maintenance there has to be a minimum number were buying a new airplane become feasible. An airline can’t justify keeping a parts supply for one type or bother training a whole crew of mechanics and pilots to handle 1 or 2 airplanes.

So it might be that any order for the 7E7 will be at least 10 or 15 which puts them pretty close to the required average order size to meet their goal. Not bad. A few large orders might just put them over that number.

I meant the NEW LoCo’s 🙂

AirTran is a fairly new LCC. Now that they’ve finished replacing all their old DC-9’s with brand spanking new 717’s they’ve placed an order for 737’s.

Don’t forget about Southwest. They’ll soon be one of the largest airlines out there and the entire fleet will be 737’s.

Maybe one could argue for a few airlines like Jet Blue or South West but even they are only adding planes and not enhancing their product.

Um, you can’t improve on cattle seating. One class, no frills is the marketing for Low Cost Carriers with some exceptions. JetBlue and Frontier both give you those fancy TV’s in the seat backs. If that isn’t enough you’ll have to look for improved service at the larger carriers.

The reason that a lot of the past frills are gone is because of the economics of running an airline have changed, not the “American” attitude. Everyone wants to fly for $100 roundtrip. This isn’t an industry catering to the select few but the general masses and the only way to do that is to keep the ticket prices low enough. It doesn’t come through fancy cabin options which do nothing to lower an airlines operational costs. Ticket prices currently are priced the same as they were back in the 80’s. Adjust for inflation and you can see that airlines are running at a huge loss to give this low prices.

Times have changed for most travel. New airplanes and airlines don’t improve the industry, in fact we have too many airlines and airplanes already. Virgins enterance into the domestic market will only create more turmoil.

What US carrier would have an interest in the A380 let alone be in a position to order such an aircraft?