Hey Brent,
Boeing backed itself into a corner with the 77W (777-300ER and 777F), earlier models were able to carry engines from PW and RR. The afformentioned models only supported the GE-90. So any engine issues, whether mechanical or regulatory will affect your fleet.
You could say, in a way, the same for Airbus, with the A350 running on RR exclusively, I thought, or was that only the -1000 model ....
Puts you right
in bed with the engine manufacture. Additionally any modification to
meet current regulation would require recertication, and at the point you might as well just design a new frame.
I think that is a general problem with Boeing having relied too much on tinkering with current success products rather than thinking ahead and noticing change in the airline industry.
When demand in the 747 decreased to the point that not enough orders were coming in to break-even at current production, that was a warning sign. Aviation had changed and Boeing was still in "business as usual mode" While Airbus designed the ulra long-range A350 and the A321XLR redefining point=to=point single aisle travel over long distances (trans-atlantic) thereby opening markets which previously needed a detour via a hub. They cannot compete with the Embraer E-jets nor with the A220.
Aibus made the same error with the A380. For me that was still a comparing of penises ... "What you can do, we can too"
Boeing needs a 757 kind-of-design for a market-space which will not be filled by the MAX10. I've flown the 757 transatlantic both with Delta and Northwest and that was very comfortable, I'm not talking seat-comfort but the way it flew ... it flew "different".
The aviation industry needs both, I think they're less of competitors than colleagues sharing a market because neither is capable on its own to cover global demand for aircraft the next decade ... and what about Comac ...
Not too worried that no US airline has ordered the 777-X, there will be enough customers in Asia to hold over production until the 772s, 773 &
77W age themselves out and the US airlines will have to start placing orders. After all there is no more 747 to fulfil the high capacity route need.
The last US airline to operate the 747 in passenger service was Delta, and only because they inherited them from the Northwest merger in 2008. Delta flew the lastone to Pinal Park in 2017 and eventually replaced them with the A350-900.
In all honesty, the 777 ... any type of the 777, is too large for the domestic US network now that the hub-and-spoke system is going the way of the Dodo-bird. Delta stopped using them in 2020, American has an aging bunch left averaging 21.5 years And United will be replacing their 777s with Dreamliners by 2030. There is no US passenger market for the 777X or other versions of 777 that may still be produced by then.
The long-haul wide-body market is for the 787, A350 and A330neo.
That's an opinion, of course.
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