Originally Posted by
B772
WHBM. Do not forget the B737-200A capabilities that could not be matched by the DC9-32. MEL-PER and MEL-DRW nonstop for starters.....
I am aware of the technical advances of the 737, which were indeed matched by comparable developments of the DC-9-30 series by this time, up to the DC-9-34 (after all they shared the same engines), which latter I believe never came to Australia but enabled Spanish charter operators to do Canary Islands to Northern Europe with a maximum density charter load.
I was taking the broader view of the benefits of not having to use a 727 on these sectors, compared to the overall capital cost of replacing all the DC-9s with 737s, which was a very large investment. That's what I was considering to be marginal, which Ansett did and TAA didn't, the overall revenue benefit compared to the overall cost.