Dear Scoop the Skeptical,
I think you missed what was actually said about the profitability of the 737-700 in the fleet. The problem is the 737-700 is not a profitable airplane, which moves it into the same category as the DC9-30, DC9-40, DC9-50, MD88, MD90, 757-200, 757-300, 767-300, 767-400, 777-200, 747-200, 747-400, CRJ200, CRJ900, CRJ700, E145, E175, 737-800, A330, A320, A319.
Those airplanes are evidently all unprofitable as long as we're flying them.
I kid. But actually, its probably more true than we know. If you owned just one of those airplanes you wouldn't probably make a profit, if you owned a fleet of just one of them you'd struggle to remain profitable once you grew to full capacity. As a group they fill a niche and feed each other while we aim to make them as cheap as possible by buying whats the most mission appropriate and cost effective (new 777s or used MD90s). Its a collective, we all need each other really, Carl needs Buzz, Buzz needs Carl, Nu needs Bar, Bar needs Nu, Newk needs nobody, its just a happy place.
Where is 80 btw? Got his ipad and we hear less from him?