With fuel still at very high levels and the MD-80 fleet continuing to age, more 738s would probably mean significant fuel savings. The APFA claims that management's delay in ordering 738s (by not ordering them earlier in AA's recovery last decade) cost AA $1.8 billion in additional fuel expense from 2004-09.
Problem is, if AA buys a lot more 738s in the short-term and then Boeing goes ahead and builds a fuel-efficient replacement for the 737, the buyers of late-model 737s will wonder why they didn't wait a while. (Because waiting means spending millions of dollars more on fuel every day/week/month/year that the airline waits for Boeing to make a decision.
Today, Boeing's CEO said that it would build a new airplane to replace the 737, and then he backpedaled a bit:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Boeing-CEO-new-airplane-to-apf-3027390985.html?x=0&.v=7
Arpey and Horton and the other bean counters have to be asking: "So are you or aren't you?"
Even if Boeing does eventually build a composite replacement for the 737, realistically it won't be flying for quite a few years anyway, so I'd vote for more fuel-efficient replacements now.
Problem is, if AA buys a lot more 738s in the short-term and then Boeing goes ahead and builds a fuel-efficient replacement for the 737, the buyers of late-model 737s will wonder why they didn't wait a while. (Because waiting means spending millions of dollars more on fuel every day/week/month/year that the airline waits for Boeing to make a decision.
Today, Boeing's CEO said that it would build a new airplane to replace the 737, and then he backpedaled a bit:
Boeing Chairman and CEO James McNerney told analysts on Thursday, "We're going to do a new airplane." He then seemed to backtrack a little, saying, "We're not done evaluating this whole situation yet, but our current bias ... is to move to a newer airplane, an all-new airplane, at the end of the decade, beginning of the next decade. It's our judgment that our customers will wait for us."
After McNerney spoke, the company tweeted that it expects to have more clarity by the middle of this year on its plans for the 737. Boeing has said previously that it is leaning toward designing a new plane.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Boeing-CEO-new-airplane-to-apf-3027390985.html?x=0&.v=7
Arpey and Horton and the other bean counters have to be asking: "So are you or aren't you?"
Even if Boeing does eventually build a composite replacement for the 737, realistically it won't be flying for quite a few years anyway, so I'd vote for more fuel-efficient replacements now.