Originally Posted by
tdracer
... . For a while every GE powered 747-400 had autostart - in fact we didn't even have drawings for a non-autostart 747-400/CF6-80C2. Then someone came in, ordered a couple GE powered 747-400s, but declined the autostart option. Cost a small fortune to develop and certify the configuration, just so that we could charge
less for the aircraft.
I always figured we should have simply had the sales team tell them we were having a limited time special and would throw in autostart for free...
Like when X Air bought a couple of Jumbos - wanted them with no logo lights... B said sure! Made up and certified blanking plates to cover the holes where the lights would have gone and each copy cost a massive extra fee. The next Jumbos came with logo lights, as did all subsequent X Air aircraft.