"Pooh Bear" wrote in message
...
Kevin Brooks wrote:

"R. David Steele" /OMEGA wrote in message
...

What is the advantage that the 7E7 or the Dreamliner have over
the rest of the line?

I assume that the market niche for the 757 and 767 is still
there. It is just that they are not large enough to support the
lines or just use other aircraft to cover that niche.

7E7 will offer airlines a new airframe (they can't fly the same old ones
forever)

No ?

No. Aircraft have definite service lives. Surprised you did not know that.


My fave large a/c is still the 747 ( not keen on 777 - feels cramped to
me - and
I'm sure that factor will be a great seller for A380 ) . 747's been
around a
while hasn't it ! ;-)

Uhmmm...they still build them, that is correct. A lot of the older, higher
hour airframes were either converted to cargo use, put out to pasture, or
both.


Modern version of 737s still sell well and how old is that design
originally ?

Yep, they still build them. Again, the original versions have gotten kind of
long in the totth, and retirements have already begun.


Even some ancient 727s were only recently pensioned off in the US.

Exactly--they don't last forever, do they?


with what is promised to be unparalleled efficiency. Airlines have
to maximize efficiency in order to remain profitable. Note I got my
replaced-airframe list off-kilter (see other message in this thread).

Fuel efficiency ( cost per seat-mile ) is what it's about. This factor is
skewed by amortised cost of old but serviceable a/c - like the 727s I just
mentioend. Not efficient - but the lease purchase was paid off decades
back.

I tell you what--you want to start up a new low-cost airline here in the
states with 727's, be my guest---but don't be planning on getting many
financial backers.

What was your point to all of this? According to an article in the August 04
Air International, Boeing sees a potnetially lucrative market for the 7E7 as
a replacement for older airframes nearing or exceeding their 20th
anniversary in the next few years (according to the article, some 1500
aircraft total meet that description in the niches the 7E7 would fill). You
apparently think otherwise--fine. I am willing to go out on a limb here (not
really) and state that Boeing knows more about it than you do.

Brooks


Graham