790 is a nice order book, but we're into the last few hours of 2007 & the 787 was supposed to be earning revenue by now. Airbus got crucified fror the delays on the 380 & ended up with a load of cancellations which they are just starting to claw back. In no way shape or form do I wish any such thing to happen to Boeing, but I do wonder how long the Seattle magic will keep the accountants at bay before they start to threaten the order book.
As was mentioned on at least one other thread, earlier today, professionals who know their job and how it relates to the overall business, and more importantly, can do it "hands on" when everything else falls around their ears, are no longer in charge, and everything is driven by the numbers on the current bottom line, regardless of whether its a good idea for the business to do the one thing or the other, if it puts a bigger number on the balance sheet now, you can bet that that's what'll happen.
Sorry for being pessimistic & all that, but I think that if there were more low-cycle 757/767 & similar hulls on the second hand market, we'd already be seeing a few orders being reduced or maybe delayed at the very least.
It was also interesting to note on the Boeing website in the 787 press releases a comment about conversion for 777 crew expected to take less than five days, similar to the type rating on 757 qualifies you for a 767 & vice versa. Although I am looking at this as a comment to the investors and glossing over the fine detail of the actual process, if it's even been finalised for the 787 as yet. (I also can't believe it's as simple as that for the 757/767 either.)