Originally Posted by
B787938
That said, I highly doubt that United will give up it's freight revenue that the 747 – 400 can provide. Granted, a Continental 777 – 200 ER with the GE 90 engines can easily make it from the West Coast to Sydney they cannot do it fully loaded with passengers and freight.
I'm not sure this is the case. First of all, it's a common misconception that UA does not haul cargo on its 777s to HKG, BOM, PVG, etc. Quite often, these flights go out right at MGTOW with pax, bags, freight and fuel. Weight restrictions come into play when weather conditions and/or winds aloft cause problems, but under normal conditions these flights can carry a healthy freight load. Second, the 772 actually has a larger freight volume than the 744, owing to the shape of the fuselage. Finally, the 744 has a lower CASM than the 772, and can still be a big moneymaker, but this is only if you can fill a substantial portion of those 374 seats with a reasonable mix of traffic. By subbing in the 772 (if it happens), UA is attempting to 'fire' the lowest-yield Y traffic by reducing the number of economy class seats by over 100 while making a smaller cut to premium capacity. In a competitive market (see SEA-NRT, LAX-NRT, LAX-PVG) with a lot of downward fare pressure, this strategy makes sense, as the alternative - a capacity dump a la SFO/LAX-EWR - is not feasible nor advisable.