When airlines began to use 757 aircraft for flights between the US Northeast and Europe, it was innovative to say the least.  Using the aircraft’s 4000nm range, it became possible to serve those long, thin routes with non-stop flights that haven’t been possible with a single aisle airliner since the 707 and DC-8.

757s are aging aircraft now and even with winglets, some airlines are seeing the time come for them to retire these planes.  Many speculate that Airbus or Boeing will develop some derivative of the 737 or A320 to replace the 757 on those routes and while it is something that I think airlines would have some interest in, it’s highly unlikely to happen. Despite how much new life the 757 found on those routes, it’s still a very small subset of 757 flights.

Even today, most 757 flights are in the domestic United States and even the trans-continental flights are a subset of all 757 flights.  In point of fact, most 757 flights are not trans-Atlantic or trans-continental in nature.  The trick with those long flights is to have an aircraft with enough power to carry not just passengers but a good load of cargo and a more ideal aircraft would have closer to 5000nm of range as well.

Once you find the engines (which need to be in the 40Klbs of thrust range), you still have to build an aircraft that can economically carry 180 to 200 passengers and a full load of cargo 4500nm to 5000nm.  In point of fact, that starts to sound an awful lot like the 767.  And it’s notable that the 767 is still being produced.

I would argue that the airliner that airlines might buy is a 767-200LR that is lightened and which has more efficient engines.  Engines that, say, would look something like a downrated GEnX engine.  Perhaps an engine derivative of those now being used on the 747. 

I don’t think we’ll ever see an airliner like the 757 again.  It was always a bit of a misfit in the airline world in that it was designed in the 1970s and had to succeed in the 1980s and 1990s.  Its sweet spot was just a bit too high performance for most routes that airlines needed it for.  It succeeded as a design and in production but it was not nearly as successful as the 727 or 767. 

But I do wonder what a lightened 767 with modern, efficient engines would do for airlines on those trans-Atlantic routes.  Or on routes from North America to South America.  Or on US mainland to Hawaii routes.  There might be just enough use for Boeing to do one more derivative of that airframe and get something out of it.  It wouldn’t be impossible to see such an airliner becoming a KC-46B tanker model as well.

Filed under: Airline Fleets by ajax