Originally Posted by
Grumble
The 787 was never designed to replace the 767, not even remotely close. It was derived from the Sonic Cruiser, and was designed to completely change the paradigm. Long haul, thinner lower demand routes. Sure, you can use a 787 to fly 767 routes. Complete waste of $300+m airplane... what then flies the legs only the 787 can fly when your 787's are doing EWR-LHR? With a 30% fuel burn advantage over the 767 it would take the life limit of the airplane to recoup that purchase price in fuel savings. Meanwhile you get your ass handed to you while your competitors stretch out their 78's on routes you can't fly, because you're in the ballpark waiting for deice for a leg that's 1/3 of the airplanes capability. Like using a 757 for CLE-CMH runs.
And what are we going to do with a 767 freighter? They don't build the pax variant anymore.
Don't even get me started on what a sht show the KC-46 program is, and has been, for decades.
See my post above. Yes is was, directly. I'd love to be flying freight again. UAL used to do a lot of that using dedicated freighters.
And, yes, if UAL bought a large order, Boeing would sell the passenger version again in whatever numbers we wanted, but I'm sure they would prefer we bought new 787's instead. Maybe as a condition we would have to buy something else in another deal, say some 747-8's.
The cockpit and updated systems of the KC-46 is what FedEx is getting. They didn't buy any of the refueling systems, which is a large part of the acquisition delays for the KC version.