Originally Posted by
sailingfun
I would love to see 747's. I read the above article and its a very simple analysis that makes some strange assumptions and leaves maintenance out completely.
When I did the numbers, I came to this conclusion with maintenance costs:
A) I have no idea what the maintenance costs are.
B) By not adding maintenance costs, a cheap used 744 > brand new 77W.
They're so many factors really starting with the primary question, what do we need? Lettuce say Carl's rumor is right, what are we to assume? Delta crunched the numbers and wants the 77W. So does every other airline, hence stand in line and get out the checkbook. Delta is cheap. Boeing is willing to make a deal.
All that sounds very plausible to me. Especially in light of the fact that we have two aircraft types that seat 160 passengers, the MD-90 and 738. The 738 is a better airplane yet here we are scrambling to acquire 50ish used MD90s from any where in the world and have ordered 0 738s. I just wouldn't be surprised if we'd do something else that would be considered just as miserly.
Originally Posted by
sailingfun
There is one point in favor of the 747. Boeing is going to put the 777-X on the market in 2019. If we placed a early order for that aircraft Boeing might give us some 747 for almost nothing to cover lift requirements to the 2019 time frame.
There's a thought. Lock in a good price, get to the front of an even better line, have something to tie you over. An appetizer.
Here's another, by that point (2019) 6 744s or nearly 40% of the 744 fleet will be 30 years old. The 744 is awesome, but is it a Douglas?