Its been a long time, but today United announced orders for 25 787s and 25 A350s plus 50 options on both. This is a big order as a whole, but seems like a compromise also. The discussion today includes Scott Hamilton from Leeham and Jon Ostrower from FlightGlobal. The conversation dwells on the 787 really being the best sized new technology available to replace the 767. But the A350 selection is truly surprising as United plans to use this airplane to replace its 747s. There is a big difference in capacity, and as Jon suggests, seems to be sending a signal that United is prepared to dispense with the lowest yield traffic. In both orders, United has flexibility to substitute different models - perhaps allowing the airline to accept the larger A350-1000 when it becomes available. Jon points out that this order is the largest order of its type this year and is ground breaking in that it is the first all composite airplane order.