Quote:
Originally Posted by BeatNavy
There have been only 55 orders for A319NEO compared to over 6,000 for the 320/321NEO variants. The initial and operating costs just don’t make sense
That's exactly right.
When you shrink an airplane, the number of seats drops faster than does cost. The shrunk A319neo/737-7 MAX can't compete on cost with the stretched A220-300 even though they have almost an identical seat count.
When you stretch an airplane the numbers of seats grows faster than costs. Look how popular the A320neo, A321neo, 737-800, 737-8 MAX, 737-900, 737-9 MAX and 737-10 MAX are. It is because of their per-unit (per seat) costs.
A shrunk larger design can't compete with a modern plane designed for the 100-130 seat market.
Which 747 did the best? The shrunk 747SP or the stretched 747-400?
Of course, as you stretch a design you run into other problems. Poor performance, higher approach and landing speeds, shorter range, etc. These problems, eventually, establish the limit to which you can stretch a design. As with most things in engineering, everything is a compromise.