Originally Posted by slowplay

The 747-400 is a really tough airplane to make money with in a down economy. It can mint money in an up economy. It is substantially more expensive to operate than a 777. The oldest 747-400 Delta operates is 20 years old and its cabin isn't competitive with those of other major network airlines, so it loses brand preference if all else is equal. Bastian indicated in his "chat" last week that they're going to the Board to update the interiors. Putting 777 lie-flat seats in the aircraft will cost it about 7-10% of its capacity (360-370 range), and that investment will only work if pax are willing to pay the freight and fuel prices stay reasonable. If either the economic projections go south or fuel prices go north, all 16 of those aircraft are leased and could leave the fleet fairly quickly. If the economy recovers, I'm sure that marketing will wish they had more.

The 777-300 will seat about 315 with 56 lie flat seats. For every 8 lie flat reduced, the coach count goes up 18 or so.