The World's Biggest Aircraft Order
How long will it be before American Airlines announce the world’s biggest aircraft order? Coming up shortly is the decision that they must make to replace their 300+ MD80’s. The oldest are already more than 20 years old. These will almost certainly be replaced by the new Boeing 797. You may not have heard of this yet but it is the replacement for the 737 NG series. It will be a massive advance on any short haul aircraft currently flying. Features are likely to include GPS/Terrain mapping for Category 3C approaches to all airports with appropriate lighting, electronic flight bags, gate to gate automatic control, anti-hijack electronics, massive use of composites, bleedless engines, all data link capability for ATC including automatic links to autopilot systems, cabin width at least 8 inches wider than the A320, engine noise 20 decibels lower than current levels. The new electronics technology already exists and will fundamentally change the role of the pilots. It will be a classic example of Taylorism at work. Probably not one single pilot will be consulted about the order. Accountants, marketing people, engineers, tax experts and lawyers will certainly be involved, but pilots, no. Challenging isn’t it to the PPRune community.?
American will need to order at least 300 of these for delivery over a 15 year period. Allowing for growth that will mean they will take 1 per month indefinitely into the future.
But it gets better. They have around 125 767/A300’s. These will be replaced by the 787. Again allowing something for growth, an order for up to 150 would seem likely. Do not think that this is in any way unlikely. When Boeing were promoting their Sonic Cruiser it was rumoured that American would take all the first 2 years deliveries.
So what I am suggesting is that over the next few months American will have to make decisions that result in its placing orders for around 450 aircraft. Will this decision of theirs be announced at Paris or will it wait until Farnborough next year?
At the same time NorthWest have to decide on a DC9 replacement. Having already decided to replace their A330’with the 787 maybe they will also be a launch customer for the 797. Maybe they will order 150 of them just for starters. They currently have around 180 DC9’s, many of them more than 30 years old.
Maybe the 797 will be the first commercial jet to capture more than 1000 orders before its first flight.
There have been some sceptics in these threads about Boeing aircraft but I just suspect that they are on the threshold of a new golden era.