AVIATION WEEK

Cost, capacity, market and timing cloud 757 replacement options for Boeing, while Airbus faces more subtle product decisions

Whatever else Boeing may be discussing with potential customers at this year’s International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (Istat) meeting regarding options for replacing the 757, we now at least know it will not be talking about bringing the original aircraft back to life with new engines.

The 757 replacement question has become an increasingly hot topic, particularly since Airbus upped the ante by launching the long-range A321neo LR variant in mid-January. Until then, Boeing had quietly conducted its ongoing studies through most of 2014, occasionally being more open about them at places such as the Singapore air show, when it acknowledged that serious market evaluations were underway.

Part of that issue has always been trying to figure out not only where and how big the market might be but whether it exists at all. Boeing has pointed out that the apparent gap on the seating chart between the 737-900/MAX 9 and the 787-8 does not necessarily create a cast-iron case for a new program, particularly when the current long-range use of the 757 is distinctly “niche” in nature.

Steven Udvar-Hazy, the highly influential CEO of Air Lease Corp., helped clarify the situation in a roundabout way on Feb. 10 after The Wall Street Journal reported his comments that Boeing could consider upgrading its out-of-production 757 with new engines and interiors. While Udvar-Hazy has helped drive some major design decisions, including most famously Airbus’s redesign of the A350 to an all-new cross section, he could be out of luck when it comes to sparking a Phoenix-like reincarnation of the 757.