Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
Take reality into account and you certainly can compare the two. A 762 would get eaten alive by a 753. Especially if the 753 can come to market years in advance and have commonality with 10,000 other narrowbody jets.
And lie flat seats? For a domestic jet? How many do you really need? Is this like bragging about the 3000 mile range of a cseries when nobody needs a 3000 mile range on a 1000 mile regional jet replacement mission?
Anyways...
It's not appropriate to assume the A322 and 797 would be the same as comparing a 762 and 753 IMO. This is, to use your words, not taking reality into account.
Boeing is talking about an entirely new aircraft design with not only a modern airfoil but modern fuselage that could result in significant weight and fuel efficiency savings while, if the A322 is going to be a stretched 320 series with new engines and airfoil, the Airbus will be the one with older materials and design. This could leave the Boeing with better economics... if it can enter into service in a reasonable timeframe.
The point about the lie flat seats is that the size isn't actually the same. And Delta uses the 757 and 767 for more than just a domestic mission as well so it's not just "a domestic jet." I do think that if Boeing doesn't buckle down and make a decision soon though, they are going to miss the party altogether.
Finally though, I will say that Delta does not seem to like not having control of MRO work. If Boeing were to insist that they get the MRO work on the airframe, that could kill the deal for Delta, or at least give Airbus an even larger advantage than it has with being able to start from an existing airframe.
A GTF option, which Delta would likely be able to do MRO on, would help its case though.