Originally Posted by
N6279P
The 777X isn’t available, it isn’t expected to be delivered till late 2019. The original A350 production slots weren’t early enough to cover 747 retirements. United got a good deal on the 77W as they are trying to fill production slots between the existing and next generation 777.
Sounds familiar. United got a good deal on the 700s as Boeing was trying to fill production slots between the existing generation and the Max. It was the same exact story line. UAL said they were going to use them to replace 50 seaters. Then they rolled them over to the Max because they're "old generation" (like the 777W). Now we're increasing the RJ fleet year over year for the first time since 2012. Awesome news. Delayed hiring and upgrades for all.
And the A350 slots would have worked great if they would have stuck to their plan, but they kept moving up the retirement date of the 747.