Am I detecting some sarcasm here ? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

The 767 is -- well, was -- a competitor to the A300/A310. The 777 is a competitor to the A330/A340. If added, the 767-300 would complement the NWA fleet (e.g. 180-seat 757, 225-seat 757-300, 260-seat 767-300, 300-seat A330-300) - not compete with an existing aircraft. Although Boeing insists otherwise, airlines believe the 767-400 is too expensive per seat mile compared to the 767-300.

TW’s 763s use PW engines, which - obviously - fit into NWA’s fleet plan. According to the rumor, NWA wants the 763 (+WBC seats) for business routes (the 2-3-2 seating is highly attractive), Hawaii and secondary transatlantic routes (re: some cities to AMS, DTW-Rome, etc).

My read is that it’s just a rumor. NWA seems to have no interest in widebody aircraft -- at one time they stockpiled DC-10s and flew them to places like MCO, but recently they’ve felt as though it was more efficient to fly two separate flights (e.g. 10:50PM LAS-DTW 757, 11:00PM LAS-DTW 320 = 320 seats, or pretty close to a DC-10-40). NWA was previously interested in a 757 -200ER/-300ER aircraft, which is a heavy indication to me that the plane will probably play a big role in their future.

What are they gonna do to transpacific 747s?

It’s my understanding that transpacific service will remain unchanged -- at least for the time being.

“Airbus sources” indicated last summer that NWA was in negotiations for about 100 A318s (for domestic services) and 25 A340s (primarily for transpacific services). However, no order ever came and NWA reaffirmed their commitment to the DC-9 and 747-200, insisting we won’t see a replacement order until late this decade.

The 767 rumor places the birds in the domestic system (including Hawaii and Alaska) plus secondary transpacific routings.

I am flying from MSP-HNL in mid September on the nonstop NW920 and returning from HNL/MSP on the nonstop NW921.

Will the ship be a DC10-30 due to the announced retirement of the DC10-40's September 6th?

DC-10-30s have already replaced the DC-10-40s on the MSP-HNL flight. They've done the same on the early SEA-HNL flight. The other SEA and the LAX will be upgraded to the -10-30 on September 4th.

The early SEA flight (NW 925) has always run as a DC-10-30. The equipment rotation was SEA-HNL-KIX-HNL-SEA until the HNL-KIX was swapped to a 747.

Any idea why they would do this rather than A330-200? A small 767 fleet is probably better than the DC-10-30 one, but is it worth the effort to just swap them out vs having a single twin-engine widebody type?

I haven't heard anything in about a week, so I'm ready to "write it off" as a rumor but...

The A330/A340 family (competes with B777) is designed for long-distance routes. The A300/A310 (competes with B767) is designed for high-density domestic/low-density long-haul.

In other words, it'd be more cost effective to fly a 767 than an A330 coast-to-coast. Also, the 767 shares a similiar flight deck with the 757.

UAL has 12 744's parked. No 777's and no 763's. Just after 911 we had 4 777 parked awaiting interiors, but all have been put into service now. Just to clarify http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

They also parked two or three 777s awaiting delivery. I think there was a 763, too but I can't remember if it was UAL or another airline. Anyway, UAL didn't want the planes but Boeing's cancellation fees must've been pretty stiff!

BUMP

Any new word on what will happen to the HNL routes once the DC-10s retire in many years to come?

CRJ's with inflight fueling http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Maybe the DC10-30 ships will be retired and the a/c upgraded to 747-200's and they will continue to NRT or other international destinations.

The Northwest 747-200's are already paid for and would actually add capacity.

RC

All indications are that the opposite is happening... 747-200s are being retired, and their routes being taken over by DC10-30s, 747-400s, and soon A330-300s and -200s.