Originally Posted by
Pugilistic Animus
I said the same thing so ago now. That Boeing needs to bring back the 757 instead of trying to force a Boeing 737 to be a 757... cancelling the 757 was a very bad decision...just upgrade avionics, engines and wings.
The problem with simply replacing the 737 with the 757 was that the 757 cost
much more to build. During the 757 development, it was assumed that jet fuel would be well over $5/gallon by the year 2000, so nearly every trade of cost vs. weight (or fuel burn) fell on the side of less weight/higher cost. For much of the next 20 years the focus went the other way - making the aircraft heavier but less expensive to build - but it still cost far more to build relative to the 737NG. Which is why the 757 eventually died - it's better capabilities relative to the 737NG didn't justify it's higher cost.
I really hope that whatever Boeing eventually replaces the 737 with has a new, wider fuselage. The 707/727/737/757 cross section is simply obsolete for the current generation of larger, wider passengers.