Originally Posted by
LY777
I was asking me the very same question...
The 777 is a very efficient a/c, has "unlimited" rangeand passengers enjoy flying on it. And it is one of the safest a/c in the world.
I have nothing against the 777 per se. The reason why I would get rid of both the 767's and 777's has to do primarily with fleet rationalization.
I want to rationalize the fleet around 3 a/c types only; the A380, A330, and 737. We all know that LY needs to replace the 767's soon. I believe that the A330 is a perfect replacement for both the 767 and 777 as its size is between the two and any route that the 767 and 777 fly, the A330 could fly more economically. Back during the late 1990's former EL AL CEO Joel Feldschuh actually picked the A330 over the 777 after an extensive study was done showing that this type would be more economical for LY than the 777. He essentially got fired for that decision and the government forced LY to go with the 777, which was a mistake from a purely economical standpoint.
There is also another issue involved. If I go to Airbus and tell them, hey I want to rationalize my entire long haul fleet with your models, they would be much more eager to do whatever needed to be done to get the deal as oppose to me going to them and saying I want a few A380s only.