United Airlines Boeing 757s’ Days Numbered

Sorry, but I've always found the 757 to be a crappy aircraft to fly in. The fact that United is dumping the old Continental planes is great news for passengers. A 5 hour flight on a plane that rattles like a Model T is torture. Although, I don't care much for the Scarebus replacement. Perhaps United should replace its' foot in the mouth CEO.

Gone like a '59 Cadillac, Like all the good things, that ain't never comin' back

The B757 was a workhorse for UAL and many other carriers. Eastern was the first user of 757's in the US with Rollers. The PW 2040 was one of the most reliable engines and is used on the C-32 VP fleet.
Mechanics and Pilots loved this aircraft for its dependable engines and airframe and on time departures.
Years ago Boeing and United were the same company and now a sad day with Airbus replacements.


Cheers,
GB

Too bad. The 757 was a nice ride!

Always loved being a 757 passenger!!

Besides the 74, the 75 was my favorite Boeing bird. Aggressive profile, like a raptor in flight and with great performance.You could, almost, stand it on its tail.

Congrats on retirement

She had a ramp presence like no other aircraft and the 757 was the aircraft I flew my Million Mile flight.

Another nail in boeings coffin.
I hated the 757. I was a on a westbound trip from europe when they used a 757. It couldn't make it to newark due to strong headwinds and had to land in gander to refuel. Missed my connection ofcourse. Never before happened to me on the same route on 767, 777, 787's....And I've flown it quite a few times.

Damn, that's really sad news, but it was going to happen eventually I guess ....

This is a real heart breaker simply because the Boeing 757 is my favorite commercial airplane. Anytime I had the opportunity to fly on a 757 i'd do it. They are aesthetically pleasing, standing tall and powerful. When American Airlines serviced SNA, I flew on 757's several times a month. Take off on those 757's was quite the experience. Noise abatement over Newport and Balboa meant a fast powerful clime then level off quickly as it headed out towards Catalina. That was an amazing experience. Why Boeing never updated the 757 and put all of their marbles on the 737 still troubles me. Frankly, I'd rather fly on a MD-80 than that FLUF any day of the week.

Here, let me edit that for you:

United Airlines operates more than 970 aircraft in its mainline fleet, a mix of older and newer planes. They still operate a number of older birds, heavily relying on their Boeing 757s and 767s for transatlantic and transcontinental routes.

The Boeing 757 has proven very useful because of its high power-to-weight ratio and small cabin. It can comfortably service less-trafficked European fields that a 767 might be too big for.

Unfortunately the 757s are quite old, averaging 25 years, United's oldest batch being just over 30 years old. While they perform well in the markets they serve, their age shows; they spend a lot of time in the maintenance hangars.

With no direct Boeing replacement, United decided to order 50 Airbus A321XLRs, which boast an operating range of 4,700 nautical miles (about 11 hours non-stop). Of course these numbers may vary depending on United’s choice of configuration, but these aircraft are set to completely replace the carrier’s fleet of 61 Boeing 757s.

United’s Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances, Patrick Quayle, said that their upcoming A321XLRs will eventually take over all of the carrier’s 757 routes, and he expects the first XLR to be delivered in December 2025.

The A321XLRs are expected to operate mostly on international routes, focusing on small but important markets. Still, routes such as those to the Hawaiian islands and the Newark to Lima run may see continued 757 service or maybe a swap to a different aircraft, as United doesn’t plan to use XLRs for those flights soon.

“We use the 757 to fly to smaller markets like Tenerife, Spain, and Reykjavik.

“The 757 is getting a bit uneconomical, but we want to continue flying to these cities, and the A321XLR is longer-ranged and has much better fuel-burn and maintenance costs.”

B757 it could cross the pond to Europe or Hawaii - go in and out of Eagle with a good load even in the summer. The B737 has out of date systems and it's not the flier the the B757 is - sorry SWA. I did miss the 707 and the 747 but spent thousands of hours in all the other Boeing jets through the 787 before my government said I had to retire.
After thousands of hours in the B757-200 & -300 as well as IP, CheckAirman, and FAA Examiner, Next to the Triple 7 it was my favorite. Sorry to see it go.

Will the USAF & FedEX be next?

I remember an early morning departure from SNA to ORD on a UA 757 back in 2002. We launched like a rocket up and out and over the the water in no time. It was fantastic!

My favorite 757 story was a landing at EWR. We were lined up heading south (22L?), it was bumpy with crosswinds. We suddenly veered left towards NYC (nice view of the city out the window). I thought "OK, we're going around, or maybe pattern change." Then the aircraft banked sharply to the right and we lined up onto 29. As soon as the wheels touched, it was full reversers (right name?) into a significant headwind. I remember thinking "Oh my God, we're going to cross Rt 1 and end up in the brewery!" :-)

75 was a STOL aircraft for the airline industry. Didn't need much runway for takeoff with the wing it had, and overpowered engines. Didn't need much for landing with a double bogey for extra braking power.

Single-engine fully loaded, bags, peeps, fuel, and all, it could still climb about a 1000 fpm. Impressive.

Boeing didn't need a clean sheet aircraft for 75 replacement. Just newer efficient engines and newer avionics would have been sufficient. Nothing wrong with the airframe.

Miss the old bird. 

This is a huge commercial defeat for Boeing. Should be a jolting wake-up call, if they haven't had enough already.

I'll miss seat 7A. Used to take the daytime flight IAD-LHR so it allowed you to stretch out and to disembark first.

A beautiful work of aeronautical engineering. Performance, efficiency, and semi-wide body comfort. And one of the first ‘quiet’ aircraft. Boeing should have modernized this instead of trying to make ‘whatever the Max is’ to fly like a 737. It takes a while, but allowing finance to overrule engineering eventually takes its toll. IMHO, of course.

The 75 was always my favorite aircraft due to its incredible performance on take off.