Damned if you don’t.  American’s labor woes are getting in the way of both the company and labor moving forward.  It’s a Mexican stand-off at this point.  Management has the argument that any higher labor costs would result in the company losing money again and potentially failing.  If it runs close to the line of failing, it’s either a liquidation (unlikely) or a bankruptcy reorgnization (very likely) or a purchase (somewhat likely).  In any of those situations, labor stands to lose and lose big.

Labor, on the other hand, has a knife to the throat(s) of current management.  If they win big gains, it’s the end of the current regime.  If any of the unions (particularly cabin crew or pilots) win the right to “self help” aka a strike, it’s the end of the current regime.  And the the end of the current regime may mean a reorgnization ultimately as well. 

Neither side can necessarily afford to stick with their current leadership.  AA’s management has allowed this to fester for a very long time and, I think, has gone past the time that would be regarded as “reasonable” to come to some agreement that would allow the company to move forward.  At least in the eyes of many shareholders.  Likewise, the unions don’t have a deal and don’t have a prospect of a deal and with the stance of “all or nothing”, stand to harm their memberships far more than help them. 

We’ve already seen the pilot’s leadership change to a more reasonable president but I see no evidence of that potentially happening among the other groups.  Not right now. 

If the brinksmanship continues, look for a regime change at AA.  If there is a regime change at AA that does not result in movement in the agreements, look for regime change of the leadership of flight attendants.  Then sit back and wait for the bankruptcy filing for reorgnization.

What seems even more dismal is this question:  Who wants to buy AA or American Eagle?

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It’s never good when something bad happens and a manufacturer dribbles information out.  Rolls Royce has a PR problem that is about to get much worse before it gets better.  The latest news is that Rolls has acknowledged the potential for oil fires in their early Trent 900 engines now and it appears there have been a couple of quiet upgrades in the time the engine has been in service.

One wonders why it has taken more than a week for this information to come out and one also wonders what else hasn’t been discussed.  It’s understandable for a company to want public discussion to be about fact rather than speculation but you don’t manage speculation by withholding all the facts.  We see manufacturers do this time and again in all industries.

It never works out and it always has the flavor of deceit whether or not deceit really was a part of the intent.   Full disclosure reassures people and, most importantly, it’s the only right thing to do.

If there are potentially related problems on the Trent 1000 engine for the 787, Rolls Royce would be well advised to start that dicussion now rather than let it lay fallow for months only to have it erupt again.   The public understands a mistake, it doesn’t understand things being covered up.

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With the QANTAS A380 fleet being grounded for several days, one thing was clear when it comes to this aircraft.

When one of these aircraft becomes unavailable, there can be a huge number of people needing to be cared for.   QANTAS’ A380 carries as much as 450 passengers and their typical equivalent 747 carries just 307 passengers.   For most routes that the A380 would fly, you would require generally 2 other long haul aircraft to deal with the extra burden.  By 2 extra, I mean you would need two 747-400s to get passengers cared for on a LA-Sydney route or two 777-300’s or at least two 777-200s.

But my larger point is that when you fly this aircraft, a cancellation can inconvenience from about 450 to 550 passengers with just one flight cancellation.  That’s a lot of people to take care of and airlines had best have a contingency plan to deal with such an eventuality because it is not like a single 737-800 cancelling.  It’s not even remotely like a 767 or 777 cancelling.  

It doesn’t appear that QANTAS has had much of a handle on dealing with their customers problems either.  To be fair, it’s not easy to ground those aircraft and then dispatch 747s to outlying destinations to take care of passengers.  The flight time alone between Sydney and LA is generally well in excess of 14 hours.  And it’s not easy to keep a spare A380 laying around either.  It’s not even easy to keep a used 747 lying around for backup. 

Then  again, it’s not like there will ever really be a huge fleet of A380s in the world either.  Unless Emirates defies all predictions and really does take delivery on all of their orders.

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Over the past few months, we’ve seen a few airlines announce their intention to carefully stick their foot into the DFW market.  First it was Virgin America with flights from both San Francisco and Los Angeles to DFW.  Next up, Spirit Airlines decided to try things out a la Allegiant style to Las Vegas and Fort Lauderdale.

I think Virgin America has every chance of making a go at this and, frankly, may be just a bit late in their timing.  This is the perfect time to go against American Airlines with a superior service product and Virgin has it.  The trick will be in enticing business customers in the DFW area and with the right kind of local advertising, they’ve got a shot.

Spirit Airlines has visited DFW, briefly, once before.  This time they’re offering flights to Fort Lauderdale where passengers can connect to their Caribbean flights.   Then they have their Las Vegas run which should potentially do OK given the current fares to Las Vegas from American Airlines.  I suspect that with any challenge from AA at all, they’ll drop that route like a man pulling weeds who finds his hand full of rattlesnake.

The real question is will Dallas embrace an Ultra Low Cost Carrier?  Maybe.  This is a fickle city that has firm ideas on what airline service is.  Southwest has spoiled us and I don’t know if Spirit’s “Ryanair-like” attitude will go down well here.  I’m personally intrigued by Spirits offerings because if they schedule things right, I might be interested in trying them out all the way from DFW to Colombia.

I’m glad to see some new airlines show up but let’s not get carried away.  These airlines are simply sticking a toe into market to see the temperature is right.

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The first order for the Airbus A380 in Japan is being announced and isn’t an order from All Nippon Airlines or Japan Air Lines.  Instead, it comes from tiny Skymark Airlines who operates the 737-800 (although they did operate the 767-300 for a while) and who is hubbed at Tokyo’s Haneda airport with an additional focus on Kobe.

The order is for 4 aircraft with options for an additional 2.  Delivery dates are unknown and this order still has to be “firmed up” within the next few months. 

It’s difficult for me to call this a vanity order or a political one for that matter.  This airline is too small for either condition.  With the order book for the A380 essentially covering the next several years, this is like an order that will be scheduled far in the future. 

But it doesn’t make sense.  This airline doesn’t have a network to feed an A-380 and using the A-380 for domestic flights essentially abuses it capabilities.  It would be much easier and offer more flexibility to use 2 767-300s or 777-200/300s for domestic use than it would be to use one A-380.  Supposedly Skymark will use these for international flights but, if so, I have to ask where they’re going to use them and just what kind of network do they plan to have to feed these animals day in and day out?

Filling a 500 passenger aircraft for international flights every day is no trivial task and given Skymark’s business model, they may well be thinking of well in excess of 500 seats per flight.  Yes, on a theoretically full flight, your flights would be incredibly profitable.  The problem is, it’s unrealistic to plan for “full” year round. 

This may be just a fancilful pursuit that will never be realized and I wouldn’t be surprised if we find that out in another 3 to 4 years.

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Update(Nov. 9th, 2010) :  According to the Vancouver daily newspaper, the couple was contacted last night (Monday, November 8th) and offered full compensation for their ordeal.

. . . like a family scorned.  Expecially a family that understands social media. 

I found out about a problem that a family recently experienced on Alaska Airlines and read the blog that was created by this family after their ordeal.  You can read it at:  http://alaskaairhatesfamilies.blogspot.com/

A lot of bloggers have spoken of the power of social media with airlines over the last year.  It offers a pathway for redress of certain grievances that previously would have been ignored by most airlines. 

First, all airlines make mistakes.  All airlines have employees who handle a bad situation badly.  The rules described by Alaska Airlines in defense of their actions are certainly true.  You’re expected at the gate and available to board at a certain time. 

But there is a difference between a gate agent standing there wondering where a passenger is who should nominally be there and available to board versus a gate agent who is being communicated with by a passenger who is experiencing a problem that will be solved in a few minutes time.  This is when you want your employees (even your contract employees) to show some good judgement. 

Allowing this man to board with his family would have cost *nothing* in terms of departure time and little extra in terms of stress on the gate agent.  When a passenger is communicating with you over a problem, stop and take the time to listen and work with them.   Why?  Because the costs in terms of reputation when that same family starts a blog that gathers national media attention are far greater than the costs of taking a few extra minutes to work this out. 

If you think the costs to your reputation when something like this goes viral in national media, you have no idea of the costs you incur when you respond with “these are our rules, here is a token payment to shut up”.  Again, you want your people at the airline examining these things and showing good judgement.  This was an opportunity to “win” in the eyes of the public and get back a reputation that is pretty good. 

All Alaska Airlines had to do was compensate the costs of the ticket and publicly apologize. This would have won the customer back and won the public opinion back, too.  Defending yourself by citing rules is only going to make things worse at this point and when you do that, you increase the public perception that you don’t play by real world rules and people begin to think that you’re just “out to screw them.”  When you behave that way, it’s hard to conclude otherwise. 

It wouldn’t have been necessary to over-compensate these people.  Just make their increased costs go away.  Make them feel as if they been listened to by ACTUALLY LISTENING TO THEM AND APOLOGIZING. 

One of the biggest mistakes Alaska Airlines made in all this was allowing the social media guy at Alaska address this by citing rules.  Use your executives to cite rules, use your regular PR representative to cite rules but don’t let your social media face get associated with this mud bath.  Social media is about being friendly and service oriented.   Not only did Alaska Airlines damage their general reputation, they damaged the reputation of their social media efforts in a way that now few people will have trust in it as an outlet for anything helpful or useful. 

And social media is only going to get more important in the next few years, not less.

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Security here in the United States, particularly after the events of September 11 2001, are a frequent topic in the media and often the target of criticism.  Recently, we’ve seen the introduction of new scanning image machines that can be used to “search” our bodies and invasively at that.  The TSA has ruled that if you decline to enter these machines, you’re now subject to a much more intrusive “pat down” search that seems designed to make entering the scanning image machine pleasant.

The reason people get upset with these security measures is because they are mere theater.  Ask anyone what it is and has been like traveling from Europe to the United States since the 1970’s and particularly since the 1990’s when it comes to security.  It has always been very serious business in Europe and I find it ironic that we dictate security terms to Europe since the truth is that much of what we engage in here wouldn’t meet muster in Europe.

Arguably, the security regimes are much the same now.  The difference is in the not-so-subtle details.  In Europe, those performing security checks are professionals behaving professionally while doing a very professional job.  Anyone who has passed through European security knows exactly what I’m talking about. 

Sadly, here in the United States, we rightly perceive much of our security being performed by people who strike us as the cheapest available for the job and who rarely strike us as being professionals doing a professional job. 

I found myself highly irritated when I was at DFW airport awaiting the arrival of a family member and watched TSA security people do what  could only be described as a bad job routinely.  Clearly someone had told these people that being “cheerful” and “friendly” would help.  First off, we don’t expect security people to be cheerful and friendly.  We really don’t and you won’t find them behaving that way in other places in the world.  We expect them to be professional. 

And not for nothing, “professional” isn’t defined as “macho cop” with a chip on his/her shoulder either.

In the time I spent watching these TSA team members, I noticed that the first woman performing ID checks was looking at the IDs but was NOT looking up at  the passengers faces.  If anything, she appeared intent on detecting a fraudulent ID.   Sadly, she misseed every opportunity to match that ID to a face and do a “gut check” on their intent. 

Next, there were two TSA team members attempting to marshal people’s goods into the x-ray machines and people through the metal detectors.  Well, actually, one of those two was doing that.  That person, a man, was doing a credible job of directing people on what to do to pass through security.  He was, however, again not looking at the faces of anyone he was addressing.  If anything, he appeared to be looking anywhere but at these people.  The other person, a man, spent most of his time flirting with the woman who was running the x-ray machine. 

Which brings us to the woman who was running the x-ray machine.  I have no idea of how you detect suspicious objects in luggage when you’re flirting with anyone.  It would seem to me that focus and attention would be the watchwords when it comes to this duty.   There were two lines and another person watching the other x-ray machine who was not flirting with anyone but who didn’t seem any more interested in focusing on the screen displaying people’s personal items either. 

Finally, there were three more post-metal detector TSA team members who were just talking *loud*.  When I say loud, I mean loud enough for me to clearly understand them from a good 40 to 50 feet away.  They were loud in barking at passengers, they were loud in discussing whether or not to eat at TGI Fridays and they were loud in their instructions to people they had to pat down.

Doesn’t sound very professional, does it?

Then I think about the time I was traveling from Belgium back to my home in the DFW area.  At the screening, the security people found a multi-tool in my briefcase.  A tool that had been in my briefcase since I left and which I had forgotten was in an interior pocket.  Suddenly I was “covered” on both sides by security personnel and escorted away (as I shouted to my wife to just get on the plane) to a secure area.  I was asked why I had the multi-tool and I explained it was literally a tool of my business at that time ( I was a general contractor) and had simply left it in the briefcase foolishly.  I was polite and direct with my response.  They continued to talk to me for another 2 minutes until satisfied I wasn’t a threat.  Then they escorted me back to the front of the airport to box and check in my tool for the flight.  Once done, I was escorted back to the security line where I once again went through all their security including a second pat down. 

Never once was it “macho cop” or “airy friendliness”.  It was entirely serious and professional.  And that, my friends, was in 1998.

That’s why we consider these procedures a joke here in the US.  They are theater rather than professional and even though we aren’t security professionals ourselves, we quickly detect that the people who are supposedly “guarding” us aren’t taking their own jobs seriously.  I am not a security professional and I cannot offer how the procedures could be better.  I can, however, argue that the front line people performing this job aren’tprofessional and its communicated day in and day out.

What’s more, when we hear of these same TSA personnel engaged in theft, intimidation and practical jokes while working, it doesn’t improve our sense that this duty and job are being taken seriously by anyone actually performing the role.  

It comes as no surprise to me that pilots (and other flight crew) are objecting to their treatment in lines.  It comes as no surprise to me that passengers are hostile to the procedures either.  I doubt seriously that anyone would object to these very same procedure *if* they were performed in a serious and professional manner.

But they really aren’t, are they.  Oh, occasionally we see it being done right.  The next time you do see that, notice that no one is arguing or complaining or groaning over the security they’re being asked to endure.  The people doing it are taking it seriously and the people going through it tend to take it seriously at that point too.

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Virgin Atlantic and Sir Richard Branson has hired Deutsch Bank to look at all strategic options available to Virgin Atlantic and that includes what the company is potentially worth.  Virgin Atlantic is already 49% owned by Singapore Airlines and 51% by Sir Richard.  Singapore Airlines has reportedly indicated its dissatisfaction with its investment’s performance in the past.  Branson indicated last May that in light of the industry consolidation taking place, it may no longer be possible for Virgin Atlantic to remain an independent entity.

Some of the questions to be answered is whether or not Virgin is an attractive property to another airline and whether or not there are other airlines out there that might be attractive to Virgin.  Virgin had been intensely interested in purchasing the airline BMI which was ultimately bought by Lufthansa who are heavily engaged in restructuring it back to profitability.

Virgin’s problem is that of no network.  It continues to be a great value to those who wish to fly its long haul flights but it has no “feed” from destinations within Europe (and in particular the UK) to provide passengers for its long haul flights.  In addition, it does not closely cooperate with its cousins at Virgin Blue and Virgin America so that it is not accused of violating laws governing ownership and competitiveness in Australia and the US. 

One has to wonder at this point why Virgin was so against joining an alliance.  They did, at one time, have quite a bit to offer various alliances but they are a property that has already lost quite a bit of shine.  Since only one alliance has substantial penetration in the UK (Oneworld), it’s possible that Star Alliance or Sky Team could still be interested on some level.  The Star Alliance actually feels a bit more like a fit and would potentially put BMI in place to offer that necessary feed to Virgin Atlantic. 

However, this is a case where Virgin really needs to pursue this rather than the alliances.  European partners in those alliances already have the opportunity to operate in the UK as a function of being part of the European Union.  In other words, Virgin needs to sell itself if it goes this route and it can.

Virgin Atlantic is an airline that really may be running out of runway very soon.  This isn’t a move out of desperation but it is a smart move to make on their part as they could benefit from a point of view that isn’t so closely tied to the Virgin hype.

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American Airlines is threatening to stop making their tickets available through Orbitz.  Instead of supply this data through a global distribution system provider, it wants Orbitz (and ultimately companies just like Orbitz) to make a direct connection to AA instead. 

At first glance, this would appear to be much ado about nothing but it isn’t.  When Orbitz and others like them get their data through a GDS, they get all the info and they’re able to display fares with a reasonable amount of transparency and thereby show the most competitive fare(s) available.  If they begin to make direct connections, airlines will suddenly have the ability to control what is fed into systems like Orbitz and Orbitz doesn’t like that.

Orbitz (and the others) are popular with the consumer because they are offering competitive choice and that service product promise is to show the lowest fare currently available.  What if an airline is able to decide that those people will only see somewhat competitive fares on those systems and reserve the best values for display on their own website?  That will ultimately drive traffic away from the travel agencies (Orbitz, etc) and towards the airline’s sites where only partner companies will participate in access to the customer.

Furthermore, by eroding the value of the travel agency websites, the airlines would be able to make the picture for what a competitive fare is a bit more “fuzzy” to the consumer.  The last thing airlines want is a competitive marketplace.  The first thing that you, as a consumer, want is a competitive marketplace. 

But it’s that competition that is making it so hard for airlines to raise prices.  Right now, one airline essentially “bids up” the price of a fare and then waits to see if other airlines match it.  If they don’t, the first airline will drop its price back to the old market price.  If they do match it, then suddenly all fares are raised but they are once again perfectly competitive which means market share for those customers doesn’t change. 

Airlines want things as fuzzy as possible and as difficult as possible to price shop because that potentially allows them to raise the prices more.  Right now, airline A might have 10 flights on a route and airline B may only have 3.  But if airline B sells at a lower price, airline A has no real choice but to match it.  This is because we see all the lowest fares displayed on a website and a price differential as little as $5 can change market share quite a bit. 

This is one reason why I believe Southwest should seriously consider getting back on the grid, so to speak.  They offer competitive prices (particularly when you consider their policies on bag fees) that aren’t displayed alongside all the other airlines on these travel agency websites.  In fact, they offer the two things that most customers want:  low fares (or at least competitive) and frequency. 

Ultimately, I expect that American Airlines will have to accomodate Orbitz in some manner.  I say this because no other airline is making this attempt at the same time.  Not having their fares displayed alongside their customers in the present circumstances will mean a potential loss of market share.  Things would look worse for Orbitz if the other airlines were trying to do the same thing.

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It was disappointing to hear of the rather dramatic engine failure on the QANTAS A380 yesterday morning but it also caused me to ponder what the real implications are.

First, QANTAS’ grounding of this aircraft is likely unnecessary and way premature in light of the service history of the aircraft so far.  At least with respect to technical reasons for doing so.  However, QANTAS’ grounding is probably a wise choice with respect to public relations.  This company has a long standing reputation for no lives lost in a jet aircraft incident and rightly so.  Preserving this image is particularly important to an airline that by definition is frequently traveling over oceans to reach their destinations.  In other words, don’t presume the grounding as an indictment against the aircraft or even the aircraft engines.

Second, after viewing a number of pictures of this incident, it is striking in that it was an uncontained failure.  However, it also shows just how robust and just how much safer jet airliners of today are versus those of the 1960’s and 1970’s.  An uncontained failure shouldn’t happen but even when it did, things were fairly non-eventful with respect to keeping the aircraft under control and getting it back on the ground.

Third, an uncontained failure in this Rolls Royce Trent engine is somewhat distressing.  Even an engine with modest design mistakes typically will not reveal these problems for a long, long time.  The pictures are dramatic and the amount of debris from this engine is also a bit impressive.  This engine deserves rigorous investigation at this point.

The bottom line is that the aircraft remains safe.  In fact, more Airbus A380s are actually flying with a different engine, the Engine Alliance engine from GE and Pratt & Whitney.  Take the media drama and even the QANTAS dramatic reaction with a large grain of salt for now.  One event does not make a trend.

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And I’ll admit that I’m mildly surprised by this development.

It turns out that unionization of Delta flight attendants was rejected by a vote of 53% against the idea.  I speculated in a post found HERE that this might actually happen but I did wonder about the results since those former Northwest Airlines flight attendants are a battle hardened crew.

This is good news.  It’s good news for Delta flight attendants and it is great news for Delta management.  The best thing management could do is to make sure they continue to treat their cabin crew with respect.  Keep them compensated well and ensure those needs are getting met.   Most of all, don’t gloat and don’t threaten.  Management got what it wanted and it is best to be magnanimous about it.

I don’t blame the NWA cabin crew for wanting a union.  They needed one when doing combat with NWA management.  I think that the movement to put a union in place will actually slow some as long as management stays the course. 

In some ways, the people who get dinged the most from this development is American Airlines.  Why?  Because Delta will continue to get better productivity and enjoy more harmonious labor relations than AA and AA has been counting on the new SuperLegacies getting hit over the head.

In addition, to those who believed the new labor organization would be easier at airlines as result of the rules changes, I think you’re wrong.  This most recent vote showed that flight attendants, even ones who weren’t that emotional about the decision, do know how to vote when it counts.

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maybe.

It’s been announced that the Pan Am name is being resurrected (again for the 5th time) for an airline that plans to base itself from Brownsville, TX and which will fly to Latin American destinations initially as a cargo airline.

This won’t be the first time for Pan Am to stage flights from Brownsville either.  The original Pan Am flew flights to Latin America via Brownsville in its heyday.

Company president, Robert Hedrick, says their first flight will be to Monterrey, Mexico. 

I find this plan a bit weird, myself.  Brownsville is a large port for international goods but it isn’t a very strategic location for international flights to Latin America.  Not anymore, anyways. 

It might work as a cargo location, it won’t work as a passenger hub.  So, for those of you waiting for another glory era of Pan Am, I would suggest you not get too excited about this one.

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Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly speculated that Southwest could one day be flying to Hawaii and that has tongues wagging in the airliner world.   Kelly mentioned this possibility in connection with their decision to purchase the 737-800 which they should arrive at very soon.

The fact that no one confirmed that Southwest would in fact buy the 737-800 at their recent media day leads me to believe that they are still in negotiations with Boeing and probably it has to do with price more than anything.

Still, even if they add the 737-800, it doesn’t mean they’ll do Hawaii.  Flights to Hawaii require more than just that aircraft.  It means proving you can do ETOPS flights and it means keeping a sub-fleet of aircraft that can do ETOPS flights.  ETOPS means flight crews get more training and aircraft are specially equipped and specially maintained. 

Alaska Airlines is doing such flights at present and they appear to be succeeding well enough that they’re adding flights to Hawaii from other cities.   It is doable and it may well be profitable.

However, if this does happen, I think it might happen in 4 or 5 years, not next year or the following.  Southwest has a bunch of things to chew on at present such as their merger with Airtran, phasing in new IT systems and just adopting not one but two new aircraft types:  the 737-800 and the 717. 

If this does happen, it’ll happen once they’ve managed to digest their other challenges.  Don’t go looking for that Honolulu destination on their website just yet.

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It’s always been hard to make the case fo re-engining commercial airliners.  The government does it because their aircraft see far fewer cycles and are therefore used for a much longer duration. After 20 years, the government may well have another 20 years of service life left in the aircraft and re-engining makes sense.

I can’t honestly think of a re-engine program on a commercial airliner that was a financial success and that’s why both Boeing and Airbus are backing away from this idea.  Admittedly, Airbus isn’t exactly backing away yet but it is growing quieter and quieter about the subject.

Boeing has openly discussed building a new design as a 737 replacement and several airlines have openly expressed interest in the idea.  It is the obvious pathway to go forward on but the timeline is what is giving manufacturers fits.

Boeing and Airbus want to offer a quantum leap in efficiency with new aircraft and they sense that they don’t have the right technologies to make that happen on a small, single aisle aircraft yet.   It is going to be very difficult if not impossible to offer 30%+ gains in efficiency on the next airliner.  There has been too much learned in the art of making an airliner efficient now and that means the gains will be incrementally smaller as time goes forward. 

The engines are close enough to make that call.  With a firm build committment, engine makers could make an engine that would be a leap ahead of the rest in time for first flight.  It would require a big investment and hard work to make that happen but it is possible at this point.  Of course, the numbers of aircraft that would use these engines make the business case for that investment so the likely road block on engine development going into high gear resides with Boeing and Airbus. 

We already know quite a bit about wings and there isn’t much to be gained there.  Use of new materials could help with weight and that will help a bit but huge gains from new wing designs are likely a thing of the past.

Fuselages are one area that everyone speculatese about.  We see the gains to be had from CFRP (carbon fibre reinforced plastic) in the 787 project and assume we can get those in a 737 project.   Well, with the existing technology, those gains aren’t quite there.  That solution doesn’t “scale down” to a single aisle, 150 to 190 seat aircraft very well.  In addition, Boeing and its partners haven’t quite gotten their production to scale “up” to a level that would support high volume production that a 737 replacement would require from day one.

There are newer technologies emerging that may be satisfying for such a project’s fuselage but we’re not quite there yet and this is where the delay is coming from, I think.   I don’t think that Boeing and Airbus quite have a handle on whether or not the technologies are viable enough to pursue for production and I think that is requiring more study and thought before a committment.   The fuselage (and interiors) are the last place to make big gains and the “efficiency” needed is going to have to be won from that area. 

At the end of the day, it isn’t engines that is driving these decisions, it’s fuselages and their weight.  The manufacturers want to offer everything they can because this is an aircraft they’ll likely be building for decades and you want to have what people want when you make that kind of committment.

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