Originally Posted by GoCats67

a

I assume AA got a smoking good deal on the 787-8s they just ordered. When you consider that with the improvements in the 787-9 over the 787-8, the trip costs on the two airplanes is nearly identical. So, you are basically getting a bunch of extra seats for free on every flight. That would mean you would have to get a steep discount on the purchase price to have a -8 make sense over a -9.

Hopefully Airbus is still stinging from that loss and both manufacturers will be in the sweetheart deal making mode!

Either way, the 330 or 787 are in the top pay band, so it is an increase in pay over the 767.