Originally Posted by
flyingnosh
What if UA were to decide to replace the TATL 757-200 aircraft with 787-8 aircraft? Suppose they were to reduce capacity to 757 levels by removing rows from the back, so that they could fly the aircraft with the same size crew as a 757. If labor cost were the same, how much more expensive would it be to fly a 787 instead of a 757?
Originally Posted by
andrewwm
Quite a bit. The 787-8 weighs about twice as much as the 757-200. Trip costs of course won't be 2x as much but even if 1.75x thats a lot of extra cost to make up if you aren't even regularly filling up a 757-200.
Not to mention that purchase price of a new 788 is more than twice that of a 739. Reducing capacity to reduce operating costs does nothing to make up for the much higher acquisition costs. This is a complete non-starter. You're generating negative return on the asset.