Originally Posted by Bluedriver

What is the point? There are still airports that require special qual, still airports that have to cross the Andes, and have airports in the region that have drift down requirements more suited to an A320 vs an A321, and have performance limitations departing some fields. They can be done today with an A320CEO, but those don't last forever, will need to be replaced someday, and they are long legs which means an A320NEO will offer substantial fuel savings over a CEO, were one to be available.

And that's not including any new destinations that are currently out of range, or on the margins, that they may envision for a small fleet of A320NEOs that are better suited to the performance buffers of an A320.