Quote:
Originally Posted by YOWflier
Heard a rumour that some entity in Canada is sniffing around the A350. Speculate away.
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Hmmm....
Westjet? Nah, they're confirmed Boeing fanboys, and they're committed to the sweet sweet deals of being Boeing-exclusive. They don't need many more expensive long-haul planes at this juncture and a second widebody fleet to their 787s would be folly from an operations point-of-view.
Air Transat? Their A330s are getting long in the tooth, but the A350 is a decent step up in capacity and range. They're more capacity/range than I figure Air Transat would really benefit from, as they pack passengers into the A330 pretty densely and don't do much beyond Eastern Canada to Europe for range. I'd expect them to go A330neo or used A330 before going whole-hog on fancy A350s, but I've been wrong before.
Air Canada? Hmmm. Their 777s are mid-life. The 777-200LRs are pretty thirsty given the number of passengers they carry, but their range can't be beat. The 777-300ER packs them in, 400-450 passengers worth. The A350-900 has the legs for -200LR missions; the A350-1000 can pack the seats in, similar to the -300ER. The 777X is close to flying, but it's a step upwards in size and remains unproven. Mostly, I'm just curious as to why AC would be moving so quickly on 777 replacement at all given they just committed to the 787-10 to replace their aging A330s. Unless Airbus is just chomping at the bit for sales, or AC thinks that the fuel savings of the A350 will make the capital spend worth it to replace the 777?
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