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Aviation Daily reported that CO took delivery of a 757-300 in a 12F/210Y configuration. Is this an isolated example or a new configuration for the 757-300 fleet?

The entire 753 fleet has been converted to 12/210 config. The few more that are to be delivered from Boeing will have this config.

Thanks for the clarification. The AvDaily article made it seem as if this was an entirely new configuration for the 757-300 fleet.

It is the new configuration for the entire B757-300 fleet at CO. The aircraft are starting to be deployed on high load/low yield markets such as LAS, CO / KMCO), USA - Florida">MCO. PBI, etc. Thus the reason to increase the number of Y seats and shrink the F cabin. When you see the interior it is a bit strange looking. The aircraft is long to start with but it now has four cabin sections due to the layout.

US Airways 757-200s in the new F8Y185 configuration look really strange, too. Especially boarding at doorway L2. Previous seating was F24Y158. Is Continental reconfiguring their -200s as well?

John, the -200's remain at either 16/156 for BusinessFirst, or at 24/159 for domestic first class service.

All 753s will be in this configuration shortly; CO uses or will use the 753s on high density low yeild routes such as EWR-CO / KMCO), USA - Florida">MCO/PBI/FLL/LAS and IAH-CO / KMCO), USA - Florida">MCO/LAS/MSY and the like, where the the actual demand for F class is rather low - in real life, its a tough break for OnePass members: first class upgrades possibilities are rather limited and but for PLATINUM members, upgrades will be very hard to come by on 757-300 services.

With CO opening two new transatlantic routes this summer with the 757-200, and with four 757-200s being converted recently from international to domestic configuration, I expect that CO will fuss with the deployment of its 757 fleet. Look for increased usage of the nine 753s on the routes mentioned above and far less international standard 752s on domestic services; that being said, the international 752s are frequently used on the EWR-Florida routes as the aircraft are rotated to and from overseas flights. This summer, I think that CO will operate 757s from EWR to LIS, SNN, BHX (rumor of 2 daily flights, is this true?), and the new services to Oslo and Edinburgh - I also think an international configured 752 is utilized on the EWR-Lima route.

Dutchjet,

For a moment I thought you worked for CO. Then I read the bit about "the rumor" of 2 x BHX. I guess you don't work for CO. Amazaing you know so much. BTW, the second daily to BHX has already been announced FYI.

Continental has always operated its 757-300's on high density, low yielding routes. (EWR-FLL, PBI, LAS, and IAH to MSY, etc...). They have just reconfigured the seating, as most of these planes operate on medium haul flights, and there is less need for a large First Class cabin.

Continental has five 757-300's, with one more coming, and is not getting any more after that

The original plan was to acquire 15.

ContinentalEWR

CO will have 9 757-300s, they converted the remaining six of the original order for 15 to more 737-800s.

As of this moment in time, CO has seven 753s in service (Ships 851-857). Ship 858 should be delivered within the next 7-10 days. All are configured 12/210. For the record, Ship 284 (a 738) should also become one with CO in the near future.

Doesn't CO use the international 757 on EWR-BOG-UIO route?

Yes, CO uses the BF-configured international 752 on the EWR-BOG-UIO route. Other South American routes that they use this a/c on are EWR-LIM and IAH-LIM. I doubt that we'll be seeing any 753s on routes other than domestic flights, but possibly during busy holiday periods to CUN and SJU.