By Tony Guerra
A May 8th story in a nationwide daily newspaper highlights the fact of American making a decision to go with narrow body Boeing 757 aircraft types on certain overseas routes. The airline joins Northwest (soon to be Delta) Airlines, for one, in using 757-200 aircraft that have been retrofitted with winglets (they increase a plane's life and enhance fuel economy) and certified for what's called ETOPS ("Extended-Range Twin-Engine Operations") flights to destinations overseas. In the airline biz, we refer to ETOPS as "Engines Turn, OR Passengers Swim." Just a joke, folks, just a joke! American states it'll be flying to a number of Latin American and European destinations using the 757-200ER. It's already kicked off the experiment, placing this aircraft on its New York (JFK) to Brussels, Belgium (BRU) route. Cabin configuration will be 16 seats "up front" (First Class) in a 2 and 2 (2 nice seats on each side, with an aisle separating them) and 166 seats "in back" (Coach or Economy Class) in a 3 and 3 arrangement.
Having had to "work" (turnaround) these ETOPS 757-200s on the ground, I'm don't know if they're the greatest aircraft in the world to use on very long routes such as these. For anybody who's ever had to fly for several hours in the center seat on a 757, let me just borrow a phrase from Bill Clinton and say that "I can feel your pain."
And for "below wing" (those employees loading, unloading or refueling and otherwise working outside on the aircraft while it's in the gate) folks turning this plane around...well, I hope you're doing plenty of low-back exercises and more than a few biceps curls because this plane can be a crusher without enough staff put on it to work it.
Still, it's economical enough to fly, with two fuel-efficient engines. And if the leadership at American is smart (a point worthy of debate), it'll cut its customers a price break on the tickets. I doubt it, though. Airline economics being what they are these days - and with the price of jet fuel ("Jet A") going up and down like a roller coaster car -- most airlines are desperate to squeeze economies out of any flight they operate while simultaneously inching the cost of a ticket upward over time.
Tony Guerra is a former airline manager and current author and freelance writer who writes on the airlines and their comings and goings at: http://airlineinsiders.com
He can also be reached at tony.guerra@tonyguerraonline.com
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