Originally Posted by forgot to bid

I'm going to make a wild assumption here but I doubt we'd ever see the Saudi MD-90s or make our MD-90s match the Saudi/717 version. The reason being is a) look how slow other somewhat simple upgrades were to the ER category aircraft such as the TWA 757s, and b) wouldn't we practically have to go through Boeing on the STC? Why would Boeing help us circumvent buying new 738s from them?

I wonder if the rumors are true that this happened:

AirTran: "We'd like a larger 717 with greater range."
Boeing: "Great, here you go, the 737-800."
AirTran: "No, we'd like a 717 that is bigger and has greater range."
Boeing: "No problem, here you go, we call it the 737-800."
AirTran: "Fine."

And I think Ryan Air showed up in AirTran colors with A320s. And then I think 9/11 happened and AirTran ordered a bunch of 737s later for cheap.

All that to say we might be running into the same brick wall if we ever entertained the idea of upgrading the 90 fleet.