Originally Posted by
flightmedic01
Would an Airbus 318 fit the criteria for the NSNB equation? Airbus website says it seats approximately 100 in a two class cabin. Why go with a new type and all of the costs associated with that? Just wondering.
The A318 was waaay too heavy (same wing and structure as the 319/320) compared to the E195 or C-Series. This, combined with an engine program that failed (PW6000) left Airbus stuck using the CFM56. For the price of the airframe and engine----might as well get an A319 and especially considering Airbus had zero incentive to compete on price with thousands of back orders for the larger busses.
As mentioned, the operating economics of the 318 were a disaster so values plummeted to the point where is was more economical for the leasing companies to part out the fairly new airframes since nearly all the parts were usable on the huge worldwide 319/320 fleet.
FWIW, these were all in be same factors that doomed the 737-600.