Re: Single aisle transatlantic is not news...
"The A321LR is basically being touted as a *replacement* for the Boeing 757 on transatlantic routes.
Until recently American Airlines was running daily flights in the winter from Manchester to JFK and Chicago using the 757 - my first ever trip to the states was to ORD on a 757. I'm pretty sure that United are still flying Manchester to Newark with the 757 daily. But with the 757 fleet aging, there's been no viable replacement until now."
I'm utterly surprised that the first mention of the 757 occured right at the bottom of the comments page. I really did think it would've appeared on the article, as this is really the crux of the matter. Airlines are using the 757 for long haul flights as it's fairly cheap and allows them to run to near full capacity on those routes. The 757 though was a failure initially, so production was stopped and Boeing didn't bother with a replacement. Now, though, the 757 has found a market Boeing don't have a replacement for it, hence Airbus are trying to get in there first with this new plane.
The thing is though, regarding other comments about single aisle planes and long haul flights, if you're willing to pay £150 to fly from Birmingham to Toronto (as an example) you can't really expect to fly it using a 747 or 777. It's cheap for a reason.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
