dojetdriver
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Posts
- 1,998
But nothing prevents the major airlines from flying 190s.
Except for the major airline pilot's egos. I KNOW, that's FINALLY starting to change. But only after terrible consequences.
Aircraft that are shrunk are rarely as economical as the base line aircraft, and on the same note a stretched airplane is usually more economical then a shrunk one. (Hence the reason you see more A321 / B737-900ER orders and not as many A319 / 737-700 orders anymore) The A318 burns about the same amount of fuel as a 319/320, but carries far less seats to offset the flights overhead / fuel cost. Simply, the A318 is heavy and costs a lot to operate while not carrying a lot of seats. The one thing it does have over the E190 is range, but it is considerably more expensive to operate.
And if I remember correctly, the A318 has some parts commonality issues as well. The main one being the different size control surfaces on the rear end.