er, the new Airbus econmy cruise speed should be Mach .78, {if the boffins have done the math corectly} which is the same as the high speed cruise was on the DC9/32, however you may not get back to the previous block times as these days one has to slow to 250kt IAS below 10,000ft with further restrictions at 3,000ft and other slow ups when close to destination airport, the days of bareling in to the marker at 300knots are gone, I gues we were having way too much fun so the powers that be said, " we will have no more of that",however, having just read a book on the early days of travel in Canada, I for one wont be complaing too much if it takes a few minutes more to do what took days to acomplish only a few years ago.{by the way, acording to the
PR flaks, the aircraft is faster than the B737, unless one wants to burn more fuel that is}