But you can bet Delta will drive a hard bargain for the twin-engine 777s, although it may be hard-pressed to get the discounts it would like. “777 300ER has some of the best pricing in the business,” said Richard Aboulafia, analyst from the Teal Group, outside Washington, D.C. “‘What Delta would like is 50 percent off list, and they’re not going to get that with the 777 300ER. But given the bridge problem, they might do this in a few years.”

“You used to get quite a lot of 747s, but not that many that come in here now,” Chester says. “I think 747s will be a thing of the past in the not-too-distant future.” In fact, industry analysts have predicted that for some time, Richard Aboulafia, a commercial and military aircraft expert with the Teal Group consulting firm, says that with its four engines, the 747 is a gas-guzzler. Airlines are opting instead for newer, two-engine planes — like Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. “Getting rid of engines is a great thing in terms of fuel efficiency,” Aboulafia says. “That’s why more and more airlines are focusing on those smaller-sized planes.”

ANA’s 70-plane purchase today tilted toward Boeing, with the U.S. company accounting for all 40 long-haul models in the deal, with a list value of about $13 billion. Toulouse, France-based Airbus Group NV (AIR), seeking to crack Boeing’s grip on Japanese airlines’ wide-body fleets, sold 30 narrow-body jets. “I wouldn’t call this a split order: Boeing won,” said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group, a consultant based in Fairfax, Virginia.

“It’s an impossibly high base year, with production having more than doubled in half a decade. The industry is running the risk of creating a bubble, and a balance needs to be struck,” said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis at Teal Group Corp., Fairfax, Va. “The industry could be building for a colossal burp after watching costs and rates rise as new planes are produced.”  There also is increased competition from composites, particularly with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.  Aboulafia said the battle  of raw material suppliers is a back-and-forth process, with aggressive marketing from competing sectors.  “The Rolls Royce receivership in the 1970s was due to its use of composites in its engine. It became the watchword for overreach,” he said.  Composites have been used on business jets, but all except one failed, Aboulafia noted. The jury is still out on the latest release, which will be Montreal-based Bombardier Inc.’s  Learjet 85.  “Companies are naturally drawn to the innovation story, but it is easy to oversell technology. This is the oversold nature of the composite revolution,” Aboulafia said.

Boeing said on Monday it can move “really fast” to get the Dreamliner back into the skies once the FAA approves the fix. But the FAA faces unusually tough obstacles in approving it for flight – one of them brought on by the agency’s own boss. LaHood promised early in the crisis that the Dreamliner would not resume flying until regulators were “1,000 percent sure” of its safety. As no aircraft is 100 percent safe “it is going to be a challenge for the FAA to dial back from some of the overheated rhetoric,” said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst at the Teal Group in Virginia. Aboulafia estimated it would take at least four months for the 787 to be cleared to fly if the FAA approves flight tests soon. If flight testing approval takes longer, it could take 6-9 months before the 787 is back in the air.