Originally Posted by
JimInOhio
Thanks... I carelessly messed up my lettering. Will there be any commonality between the 777-8/9 and the 787 series? I suppose there isn't any good way to answer that now anyway. Unless airlines can have crew commonality with the 787, it's not obvious what the advantage will be for the 777-8/9 over the existing A350 once the current fleet of 772 and 77W has to be replaced. Also, I've assumed all along the 789 mostly replaces a 772 anyway but that might be wrong.
The 777X is expected to have a common type rating with the current 777, so existing 777 pilots should be able to be certified easily on the 777X. It appears that the 777 and 787 do not share a type rating in the US, although they apparently do in Europe. Therefore, I think UA would have to require pilots to choose the 787 or 777, but if they were to elect to buy the 777X, the 777 pilots would be able to fly those also. If they were to take the A350 order, they'd need new pilots, and/or pilots would have to go through extensive training and qualification on the new plane. My understanding is that the FAA doesn't allow a commercial pilot to be licensed for multiple type ratings simultaneously,