Originally Posted by Swakid8 (Post 4022799)

I don’t see the benefit for a small Narrowbody what’s so ever today… With the increases of crew costs over the last 10 years, they see the value of spreading those increased costs over more seats in quite a bit of the domestic market.

The other segment of the market (premium), larger aircraft provides more floor space to offer more premium seats (domestic lie-flats, Higher number of FC seats, Premium Econ, more Econ+ seats, etc).

The primary reason why Delta took on the A220 to begin with is because Bombardier offered them at a steep discount to become a US launch customer. Just like how Delta acquired the 717s from Southwest after the Southwest/AirTran merger, very very cheap….

United isn’t going to get that kind of deal for the A220 from Airbus

Originally Posted by FlyingSlowly;[url=tel:4023148

4023148]The 319s, 737-700 and 320s at United are not getting any younger. The A220-300 and the (most likely forthcoming) A220-500 replaces everything up to a 737-800, but at a much lower operating cost.

Up-gauging does not work out of smaller markets if you can't sell more than 130 (A223) or 150 (A225) seats profitably.

The opportunity cost of more domestic First class on these planes is also very low at one seat per row. And some markets just don't call for premium lie-flat seating.

Even if United doesn't get Delta's kind of A220 deal from Airbus, they might from JetBlue as part of a divided sale. It would also stop Delta from getting more of a very comfortable and competitive aircraft at a cheap price. Further, United's legacy birds cannot financially compete with the A220, they're just not in the same league for operating costs.

Originally Posted by Grumble (Post 4023155)

Isn’t 40% of the worldwide 220 fleet grounded because of Pratt engine issues? Thought I saw a headline about that.

Originally Posted by FlyingSlowly (Post 4023148)

The 319s, 737-700 and 320s at United are not getting any younger. The A220-300 and the (most likely forthcoming) A220-500 replaces everything up to a 737-800, but at a much lower operating cost.

Up-gauging does not work out of smaller markets if you can't sell more than 130 (A223) or 150 (A225) seats profitably.

The opportunity cost of more domestic First class on these planes is also very low at one seat per row. And some markets just don't call for premium lie-flat seating.

Even if United doesn't get Delta's kind of A220 deal from Airbus, they might from JetBlue as part of a divided sale. It would also stop Delta from getting more of a very comfortable and competitive aircraft at a cheap price. Further, United's legacy birds cannot financially compete with the A220, they're just not in the same league for operating costs.

Originally Posted by Swakid8 (Post 4023332)

There’s a reason why A321, Max-9, Max-10 have sold and are selling like hot cakes and A220-100/300, A319, A320, 737-7,-8 sales have stalled out….

Originally Posted by VacancyBid (Post 4023339)

If you fundamentally decide you need a 100-150 seat airplane ... something designed for that makes sense. If you're looking at a 150-200 seat airplane, all 200's make sense.

Originally Posted by Hedley (Post 4023349)

I think that’s the issue. They have decided that they really don’t want anything for the 100-150 seat market.

Originally Posted by JimmyDean (Post 4023570)

United hasn’t ordered a plane with less than 166 seats in decades. That’s not going to change now. The MAX 8 will be the smallest A/C in the mainline fleet once the 319/320 -700 are retired.