channa

http://www.wsj.com/articles/united-c...57s-1426017322
{Moderator note -- WSJ is paywall site but the content is also available "free" via a search on the title "United Continental Studying Replacements for Fleet’s Boeing 757s"}

{Key content
"Ron Baur, United’s vice president of fleet, said the airline was looking at both the A321LR now being developed by Airbus and an all-new Boeing jet that the U.S. company is sketching out."}

This will be interesting to see how it plays out.

entropy

'pretty decent' is hardly a ringing endorsement.

Boeing has already stated several times that they aren't really interested in building a 757 replacement (presumably unless they finally get around to Y1 in another 10 years), so I wonder what they're telling United.

bocastephen

The 737-9ER pretty much *is* the replacement for the 757-200 give or take a few seats.

If UA is looking for something with more capacity and range to nestle between the 737 and 787 for domestic narrowbody service, there just isn't much coming from either key manufacturer, both of which seem focused on the global widebody business.

I guess a shorter-range 787 might do it, but the acquisition cost and extra seats might not work - so I guess they are looking for a 757-300 capacity aircraft at/near 737 pricing - and good luck with that.

mduell

B753 capacity with real TATL performance? They had it, just put a bunch of them in the boneyard...

JC5280

I thought United (and Boeing) have indicated that the pitch for the 739 is that its a replacement for the 757. I cant site the source, but i remember some news release that the 739s would replace these 757s. But can they do the small market TATL flights? That, I do not know.

channa

I think range is still an issue on these.

They sometimes have issues with Hawaii when the winds get strong. TATLs are longer.

uastarflyer

Thank goodness a 737 can't do TATL. The 752 is punishment enough.

spin88

Its two issues with the 739ER, range (3235 nm = 3722 sm) which with prevailing winds is no where near enough for Europe to US, or many Asian secondary city routes, and marginal for US-Hawaii on many desirable routes, second even when fully loaded its not the same as an 753 which the airlines that have them have found is a handy plane size wise.

the "A321neo 97t" (97 Ton) is said to have a range of 4000 nm, which is slightly better than the current 752W (3900nm). My guess is that Airbus will find a way to push that a few 100 extra nm, which will solve the trans-alt West bound issues the 757 has had.

The 321 is a nice plane, with a 6"wider cabin it has 18" seats, the "issue" is that it seats 6 fewer in most configurations than does the 752, and my guess is that United wants an aircraft of the same capacity as the 753. That said, Airbus is not going to produce such an aircraft, and I don't think Boeing will (with the 321neo 97t already on the market) have anywhere near the market for a larger narrow body. United will have to buy these A/C at some point or use a smaller (788) narrowbody.

artvandalay

It was sad to read FT posts about the delayed TATL 757s not making it to EWR this winter from Europe. Pax never knew when they boarded when they would really arrive back in the USA.

Here's what Boeing had to say about the 757s last month in the WSJ: http://www.wsj.com/articles/boeing-c...RDS=boeing+757

IAH-OIL-TRASH

here's Reuters article w/o need to login/do search:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/united...223229579.html

Includes a photo of EWR 1K/Plat check-in counter that needs a new caption.

I'll submit "United announces new baggage benefit for Premier travelers: Not only will we deliver (for a fee) your luggage to your door when you arrive, we'll deliver it (for a fee) from the floor to the check-in counter when you depart".

riphamilton

just so we're not talking past each other, remember that the forthcoming 737 MAX series is marketed as 737-7, 737-8 and 737-9, whereas the current 737NG is -700, -800 and -900.

the MAX -7 tops out at 3800nm; the MAX -9 is marketed as having 180 seats (i'm assuming that's an all economy config) at 3600nm.

A321neo/LR seems to be pegged around 4100nm with MTOW at 97 metric tonnes.

current 752 range is listed (on wikipedia) as 4100nm with winglets; MTOW of 116 tonnes (i think i got the conversions right).

i don't have enough background to give color to those figures, but there they are. i'd love to see a new 757 offering, simply because i've grown sick of the 737 fleet. pilots seem to have a strong preference for the 757 as well. i'd love to have someone like freshairborne chime in on this!

ani90

737s of course can do TATL but just not with the full loads more accustomed too. Specially configured 737 have flown TATL with lesser (typically predominant business class) passenger and cargo load.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

It's hard not to like being pushed down the runway by those two RR engines. The P&Ws aren't bad either. They have the feel of more than enough horsepower vs the 737s, which seem to have just enough. Just the feeling I get, not saying anything technical. I also like the door 2 boarding.

mduell

No, 737-9 covers 90something% of 752 missions, not the TATL market.

No, all economy configs are 192-220 seats for the 737-9. 180 has some premium seat mix.

Ryanair is putting 200 seats in the 737-8 (MAX 200).

bocastephen

AS flies 739s to Hawaii all the time from Seattle and I can't remember when they had a range problem due to winds - of course they don't cram and squeeze as many people on board, so W+B may allow for more fuel.

I am still waiting for either Boeing or Airbus to launch a larger narrow body that is wide enough for 6 seats of 19" width but too narrow to squeeze in another seat if they went down to 16" wide...basically forcing the airlines to either add seat comfort or a wider aisle, but not another seat so the market can shame carriers that don't update the seat size for the longer flights these aircraft will make.