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There is no all-new single-aisle airplane coming from Boeing — at least not anytime soon, despite reports to the contrary.
“I think that’s complete and utter BS,” said one senior industry executive familiar with Boeing’s non-consideration of a conceptual large all-new 200 to 250-seat single-aisle. “There’s absolutely nothing there.”
While Boeing’s product development is largely dormant as it effectively restructures itself, according to interviews with industry leaders and those inside Boeing, what’s clear is that there are different constituencies from suppliers to influential customers across the sector working to put their finger on the scale of Boeing’s eventual decision ranging from a major re-think on the largest 737 Max all the way to an all-new airplane.
The technology isn’t available to justify a $10 billion to $15 billion all-new moonshot development today. However, as Boeing watches Airbus and the A321neo and incoming A321XLR tilt single-aisle market share in favor of the European plane maker, an ambitious, but less costly effort to rethink the struggling 737 Max 10 — known internally as the 5G — was being actively studied by Boeing just prior to the onset of the pandemic, The Air Current has learned.
