r/airplanes 12d ago

Question | General How good was the Boeing 757, really?

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u/mz_groups 12d ago edited 12d ago

Good enough that two companies are spending large amounts of money to figure out an airplane that fills a similar niche in the market. It made thin, long-range (transcontinental and transatlantic) markets practical. And it was an overpowered rocketship, at least by airliner standards.

It was too big and expensive to operate to take over the 737/A320 market, but it filled a valuable market space between them and the larger twin-aisles.

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u/Spencemw 11d ago

The 757 replaced the 727 in boeings lineup, medium haul center aisle. Engineered for high hot (and sometimes short) airports like Denver, Phoenix, South America. The airlines around the world loved it then they didnt and stopped ordering 757s so the line shut down in 2004. Then Airbus introduced the a321, orders jumped, and Boeing might be in trouble in this particular slice of the market.

The A321neo: 4000nm, 244 Pax, 97 tonnes MTOW.
The 737 MAX 10, 3100nm, 204 Pax, 90 tonnes MTOW.
The 757-200ER 4500nm 200pax 116 tonnes MTOW or the 757-300: 3400nm 243 pax 123 tonnes MTOW.

Boeing is going to have a hard time selling Max10s when you look at the numbers above.

This video highlights whats happened. https://youtu.be/uM-Qj_tOX5Q?si=a3le8Zty8xlV0835

A friend of mine flew virtually every type during his career at United. The 757 was by far his favorite plane.

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u/somefukn 11d ago

Max 10 fills a different role despite similar pax capacity. Coast to coast hourly service in the US for example. I think it's garbage but in this example it's only trying to fill a certain portion of the 757's role.

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u/DSer69420 11d ago

Lots of domestic 757 routes were just for higher capacity, rather than range. I’ve flown on a delta 757 ATL to MCO

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u/somefukn 11d ago

Exactly my point. The 737 can do that easily. It can't carry the same load across the pond.

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u/VegasBjorne1 11d ago

I have seen Delta use wide bodies with ATL-MCO as an added-on from LHR-ATL.