the 757 had no orders left when the line was shut down. It has a 20-30k lb disadvantage to the 321N. It simply doesn’t make sense and nobody would order the new version.

The B-52 hasn't been produced in what, like 40+ years?? Yet it's getting re-engined and airframe moded.

The no orders thing, look at the economy when it stopped when boeing halted production. Yes, it was overbuilt, but it was a work house and a provne machine that too date has no rival in it's class.

THe 75 could very easily be brought up to speed. It's not a techonological challenge. However, the gears are grinding now at a certain airline. With the MAX 20 probably not seeing delta paint unitl 2030, airbus behind on deliveries, we have a gap. The engine mods PW is doing will help with realibility and fuel consumption. Taking them off line for mods is the issue if it were to happen.

Listen, Ive told you before, I've flown all the airbii and boeings we have here (except the whale, never flew that one). The 75 is hands down the best NB we have going. Carries a ton of people, cargo and all their bags. Never was optimized in that jet - ever. And I flew it for a long time. Someone is looking at it whether you personally like it or not. We have to do something given the huge slip to the right of MAX 10 deliveries. That crap show is not going to get any better with time either.

i’m not sure the military has the same incentives as private passenger airlines, so this comparison seems a bit irrelevant

it’s “class” is an airplane that is matched on most routes by other airplanes (321/737max) while hauling around 20-30k extra pounds for the small edge cases where it’s needed. That’s a lot of waste in a system just to optimize a few niche areas.

the 757 could not “easily” be brough up to speed. It’s overweight by a lot and has zero thrust class commonality with which to amortize engine development costs.

The 757 is wonderful. I spent a long time flying it. What makes a fun pilot’s airplane isn’t always what makes a good business case.

You missed the relevant part here. You said that planes not in production. I cited the B-52 as an example. Delta is contracted with PW to upgrade the entire fleet of 757 engines. They wouldn't do that if they were not planning on keeping them around. Engineered composites for flight control surfaces are not that difficult as one for one replacements to their metal counterparts. The FAA has authorized replacements to airframe pieces parts before. Delta is bolting drag reducing strips on the 73 fleet as I type. It's not a Mt Everest.

Due to the major slip of MAX 10 we are lookig at capacity issues in the NB fleet. We had big plans for that plane that are now on hold until at least 2030. Thats 6 years of lost capacity. Delta is looking at all options.

none of those changes will meaningfully impact the economics picture for the airplane such that the 757 would have been a better choice to develop instead of the 737. They’re good moves for airlines when the capital cost is already accounted for, but not for Boeing the manufacturer to have pursued instead of something that is closer to competing in the market.

Yes, the 757 will stick around. That doesn’t mean discontinuing it was a bad move

All that said, the 757 is the best plane flying, in my opinion.

My second favorite jet after the 727, 100 series though.

Cargo, duh. Only NB make that can take proper cargo containers. Great for high altitude airports. It does make sense. Daddy D would order 100+ if they sold a new one .. I’m sure United would as well, hence why they haven’t retired the 757. The 321 Neo and XLR are under promising and not doing what they say they would do performance wise. There’s a market for it, other wise DAL and UAL would have retired them during COVID like AA.

It was a bad move. Boeing had other priorities. They had to stretch the 73 to biblical proportions because one airline demanded it. Here we are. No one has a crystal ball. The engineers that used to run Boeing had future plans for that airfram. Once the McDonnell merger happened that got tossed into the waste bin. Again, here we are.

The 321 is a paultry underperforming Gucci jet. In all versions. However they're better than the super stretch 737. That plane is junk. But here at DAL it hits a sweet spot for pax load. The plane sucks, most pax hate it from what I hear, but we cram people on it an fly it all over the system. I lol at the 73 guys whining about landing weight coming into a certain hub from the islands when that certain hub is carrying distant alternates. 75 don't care.

You do know who the original launch customer was for the 73 right? Hint: it wasn't southwest.

Yes, Lufthansa.