Originally Posted by
TWA Fan 1
Also, while it is true that a smaller a/c is more economical to operate on a "long-thin" route, one of the main reasons CO decided to operate the 752's on TATL is that they had this type of a/c in their fleet and this was a creative, profitable way to operate them.
Exactly. Converting the 752s to transatlantic got them out of the domestic system, where their higher CASM and increased performance was unnecessary. With the advent of transcontinental range in the 737NG fleet, the domestic 752s became redundant at CO. Even the sUA 752s with derated PW2037s and higher capacity are a challenging proposition in this environment. There's a reason UA/AA/DL are replacing 757s with A321/739ER while DL is adding seats to the 757s it is holding on to.
The 757 has the lowest fixed costs of any transatlantic-capable airplane in the UA fleet and a better J:Y ratio for smaller or leisure-oriented markets. Its limitations, of course, are range, inability to carry containerized freight and premium cabin capacity. It's a good tool for the transatlantic arsenal, but suboptimal for many of the markets it was deployed to by CO out of necessity. As time goes on, we'll see more sCO 757s operating in other markets (like DEN-Hawaii, LIH and Latin America) where the 739ER lacks the performance to replace the 757 one-for-one.