Market Presence. The final sales tally of the –300 at 55 represents a disappointment for Boeing. However, this needs to be placed into the context of an overall successful B757 program. With amortized development costs for the B757-200 no longer an issue, the potential profit margin for Boeing increased such that the manufacturer was able to extract between $2-8m profit from sales. Assuming that the cost of developing the –300 was only around $100-150m, then only between 40-50 sales were required to breakeven. The changes incorporated into the –300 set the foundations for changes to the –200. Sales of the –300 at around 55 have been limited but have eliminated a significant portion of the development cost (notwithstanding launch customer discounts). The lack of orders from the operating lessors (GECAS however tends to order aircraft powered by GE engines) underlines the difficulties of the -300. To date lessors such as ILFC have ordered types that offer the potential for strong medium term residuals. With the lessors having ignored the B757-300 this provided an indication of how popular the new type will be in the future.
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