Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
The last I heard, fwiw, is that for the next 5 years the only new aircraft added to the fleet would be used MD90s and that came from a LCA talking about their most recent meeting. The same one where it was mentioned the 88 pays for itself in 5 days and the 737 in 25.
That sort of makes sense. I still think the MD90 is WIN. Its cheap and relatively efficient right now, and when we eventually do start to retire the older 88's, the more 90's we have makes the fleet that much more efficient (or that much less inefficient?) Anyway being able to pay cash for a cheap, reliable plane with a common fleet to what we already have in inventory is smart now and its smart later.
Boeing hasn't just dropped the ball WRT their fairy tail 797, they've been staring at it til the whistle almost blew, the other team walked up and asked them if they wanted it, they looked down on it with indifference and said "meh" so the other team casually picked it up and started skipping into the endzone.
Boeing could care less about the narrowbody market. They want foreign widebody revenue and self printing defense slush money. Anything else is beneath them. Sure they will eventually build and sell a 73 replacement, but they will be creamed by Airbus's refreshed 30 year old design and ambitious efforts from every corner of the world and Boeing won't really care.