Coming soon?

[777 fixer]

Anybody at TULE see it?

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/...s-american.html

Twelve percent fuel savings sounds a bit opptomistic. If it is true I wonder if AA will take the plunge and buy them.

 

[Jager]

Nice concept but our 80's are about timed out...

Most are approaching 25-30 years old..

Major mod to the vault door bulkhead is due..

My vote's a nada.

 

[MERV]

AA mght do it for the savings because not all the MD 80s will be replaced that quick. AA will replace a few aged MD80s and wait for the new narrow body replacement from either AB or B.
Dugan Kinetics Demonstration Video
Dugan kinetics demon vid

 

[777 fixer]

Nice concept but our 80's are about timed out...

Most are approaching 25-30 years old..

Major mod to the vault door bulkhead is due..

My vote's a nada.

Timed out? There are DC-8's still flying around. Your probably right though. The 80's won't around long enough to make it worthwhile.

 

[upsilon]

What is the price for the retrofit? Only with that figure can one make a determination of the economics.

 

[1AA]

What about modding the MD-80's with the MD-90 engine?

 

[Jager]

Our high time 80's have a little over 78000 hours and the low time twa birds are around 26000 hours..

Depending on the cost of the mod will determine if AA takes the plunge.. From what I hear it is a 6 hour reverser change.

Delta has committed to the mod so I'll guess AA will commit to a few...

But 12% savings seems high.. Winglets only give 2-3% savings..

DC8's fly boxes... Totally different reg

 

[777 fixer]

What about modding the MD-80's with the MD-90 engine?

Way to much money involved. With the cost of new engines and a flight test program the 80's would have to be around for a long time for it to pay off. The V2500 is also heavier than the JT8D. The 90 was stretched five feet to help accomodate this.

But 12% savings seems high.. Winglets only give 2-3% savings..

Sounds a bit over opptomistic. Say it ends up being only 6% that's still very good.

Delta has committed to the mod so I'll guess AA will commit to a few...

If Delta has then I guess AA will probably will as well.

DC8's fly boxes... Totally different reg

Still flying though. Would DC-9's be a better analogy? 😉

 

[eolesen]

IIRC, the cost of the V2500 mod was around $2-3M per aircraft.