Originally Posted by
Symmetre
I think the bigger question is whether Hawaii winds up being exclusively rouged. Assuming it does return at some point, 7M8 will almost certainly remain in mainline service ... where 321XLR would be a very good 763 replacement for rouge, given it provides type commonality to the rest of the fleet.
I don't think the question is whether Hawaii ends up being rouged. Last year, around the time of the Max grounding, I was looking to book a trip to Hawaii between November 2019 and February 2020. IIRC all flights between HNL/OGG and YVR/YYC were on mainline with Max aircraft. Hawaii was effectively de-rouged and after the Max grounding some flights got replaced by rouge 767, then Omni 762 (YYC-OGG even went to mainline A333). AC also now flies YYZ-HNL (I believe as Signature Service) on 787.
At the risk of going OT, if AC were to buy a bunch of new A321's, I'd wonder if they'd put them at rouge - AC seems to put older aircraft at rouge. Has AC ever bought a new aircraft and had it go straight to rouge (other than used aircraft from other airlines)?
To me, the question is whether or not rouge continues to exist, especially if AC continues with the purchase of TS. There have been many changes at mainline and rouge over the past few years:
- Many mainline aircraft now have added seating through reduced pitch and/or additional seats/row (i.e. 777 went from 3-3-3 to 3-4-3).
- On the narrow bodies rouge changed from the European style business class, to the same type of business class that mainline narrow bodies have.
- AC acquired the Max aircraft, and chose to go with AVOD instead of BYOD
- Mainline Max aircraft flew TATL and sold domestic J as PE across the ocean
As the differences between mainline and rouge have diminished, I could see AC doing away with rouge. Any 321's they buy could follow the Max model for TATL and other long haul routes, especially if other airlines cancel orders due to the current pandemic, assuming AC can survive...