Boeing’s 767 revitalized as a MOM stop gap?

By Bjorn Fehrm

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Introduction

Aug. 27 2015, ©. Leeham Co: In our Monday article, “Boeing sees healthy future for 767,” Boeing’s spokesperson said, “We are continuing to explore additional capabilities and improvements” for the 767. It was not clear what these improvements were other than a 0.5% engine performance improvement package (PIP) that was introduced earlier in the year. With lower and lower fuel prices, existing aircraft get more and more viable as a stop gap to cover market segments that today are not part of the plans for the OEM’s modern products.

We will therefore examine the 767 deeper to understand what can be improved further and how well such an improved model would serve as a stop gap replacement for the lack of a modern Middle of the Market (MOM) aircraft. We explored how a MOM aircraft should look like in our series, “Redefining the 757 replacement requirement for the 225/5000-sector”.

The 767 has several of the attributes that we found optimal for a MOM aircraft, one having a seven abreast cabin cross section. In the 767 variant that is being produced for the US Air Force tanker program, the 767-200ER, the overall fuselage dimensions are also close to the ones we found desirable for a MOM aircraft.

With fuel now well below $2.00 per US Gallon (about $1.35), we will compare the 767 to our MOM specifications and try to understand where there is a fit and what would needed to be changed to improve the 767’s efficiency so that it could serve as a MOM stop gap. Finally, we will check if such changes can be economically viable in different fuel price scenarios.

Summary:

  • Different to the 757,the 767 is still produced for the foreseeable future, thanks to the US Air Force tanker program.
  • Boeing 767 is the only produced aircraft that has the desired seven abreast cabin, which we found optimal for a MOM aircraft.
  • How does the 767 fuselage and wing compare to the ones we found desirable for the MOM?
  • Is the cargo capability of the 767 acceptable for a MOM role?
  • We explore the primary characteristics in our first article today. We will go deeper with technical and economical analysis in subsequent articles.

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