Boeing (NYSE: BA) has unveiled the 737 Max, the name of the new engine variant of the market-leading 737 launched today.
The new family of aircraft – 737 Max 7, 737 Max 8 and 737 Max 9 – builds on the strengths of the Next-Generation 737.
"The 737 Max offers airlines the right solution and the best choice for creating the most successful future with improved profitability," said Nicole Piasecki, vice president of Business Development and Strategic Integration, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "The 737 Max will deliver maximum efficiency, maximum reliability and the Boeing Sky Interior will continue to offer maximum passenger comfort. We call it the 737 Max because it optimizes everything we and our customers have learned about designing, building, maintaining and operating the world's best single-aisle airplane."
The 737 Max will deliver big fuel savings that airlines will need to successfully compete in the future. Airlines will benefit from a 7 percent advantage in operating costs over future competing airplanes as a result of optimized CFM International LEAP-1B engines, more efficient structural design and lower maintenance requirements.
Airlines will continue to benefit from maximum reliability. The 737 Max will build upon the Next-Generation 737's highest reliability performance of any airplane in the world – 99.7 percent on-time departure rate.
The 737 Max will deliver passenger appeal through the new 737 Boeing Sky Interior. The powerful appeal of the new interior comes from the most spacious cabin headroom, overhead bins that disappear into the ceiling yet carry more bags and LED lighting that brings any color into the cabin.
The Boeing 737 is the world's most popular and reliable commercial jet transport, with more than 9,000 orders to date. Boeing forecasts global demand for more than 23,000 airplanes in the 737's market segment over the next 20 years at a value of nearly $2 trillion.
More information about 737 Max is available at www.newairplane.com and in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_kKD6g53AA.
MAX
Is that the best the Boeing marketing team (or the firm of Mad (ison) Men they hired) can do?
Wall Street clearly likes this airplane as after the events of the last three years avoiding risk is apparently the way to go (for the time being)
The Boeing company that I knew went ahead with the 707, the 737, the 747 and the 787, and while the 787 has been a nightmare in the end it will a great airplane and deliver on a return on every Dollar spent.
Where is the new airplane Boeing?
I agree it is a daft name. Hopefully they will see sence and call it something decent!
Anyway Ebeneezer i thought you were from this side of the pond! 'Airplane' indeed! Its 'aeroplane' my good man.
It can't be a New Next Generation and MAX just sounds daft (short for maxed out?) , They are going to cause confusion by keeping the -7,-8 and -9 designations . My guess wait a couple of years and call it the B797 , so Wall Street don't get the jitters about another all new aircraft program.
Boeing spent a lot of time trying to justify a clean sheet design to replace the 737. Ultimately, they came to the same conclusion that Airbus had already made, in the short haul market re-engining made the most economic sense in the short term. They also seem to have actually learned some of the very hard lessons from the past several years: under promise and over deliever; if you just want to update a design with new engines, leave everything else alone. Like Airbus with the A320neo, Boeing will do well with the 737 Max.
Hunter32:Like Airbus with the A320neo, Boeing will do well with the 737 Max.
There is still a deep difference between tha A320neo and the 737max, and that is the fan size. It is an 30-38 centimeter difference, and that's enormous in terms of by pass ratio in respect to the 78 inches of the LEAP-1A of the A320neo or the 81 of the GTF version....
Airbus had a simple task as they developed their A320's frame in the '80s sized on the CFM56-5, so this is the first fan enlargement the A320 family meet it its life.
The 737-100/-200 was originally designed in the '60s to be equipped by the JT8D. Boeing engineers had their problems to fit the CFM56-3 in the '80s with minor design changes and later the CFM-56-7 in the '90s...
The 737-8 max will come out 50 years after the 737-100.... It is just like Doglas coming up in the mid '80s with a reengineed version of the DC-3 claiming htat is the most modern, efficient and reliable aircraft of the world..... even if retaining most of the original frame structure....
If Boeing is not yet ready to come out with a clean sheet design, it is at least time to rise the landing gear of that old lady.....
Moreover the choice to offer two different fan sized 66 and (maybe) 68 inches is rather ridicolous.... "the 66 fits for sure, the 68 perhaps... if it will fit we will offer it as option...." it is the proof that they are probably already getting concerns from potential customers on the fan size, answering "we are doing whatever possible to fill the gap". It the 68 will come out, no clue that nobody will opt for the 66 size....
It's true that the A320neo will have a larger fan than the 737MAX and will therefore have a higher bypass ratio, but it will also weigh more and will have higher drag. The end result is that both planes will be more efficient than the version they are replacing and Boeing claims that the actual operating costs of the 737MAX will still be lower than the A320neo.
It's also true that the A320 was originally designed 20 years after the B737, but that's because Airbus didn't exist in the 1960s. And it's hardly an accurate comparison to imply that an updated B737 in any shape or form resembles a DC-3, updated or not.
I haven't seen the quote you provided about the fan size. The one's I've seen have been the following "Boeing has narrowed its choices to two 168cm or 173cm (66in or 68in) and a final decision is expected in the "next several weeks", Albaugh said." I don't believe they do in fact intend to offer two different fan sizes. Boeing investigated raising the gear to allow an even larger fan size, the problem is once you change something so fundamental as the gear, it affects many other aspects of the design which then must also be changed. Boeing unfortunately ran into this problem with the updated B747 so they were very cautious not to make the same mistake on the B737MAX.
Hunter32:A320neo will have a larger fan than the 737MAX and will therefore have a higher bypass ratio, but it will also weigh more and will have higher drag.
Turbofan engine developement from its beginning has always seen that lowering fuel consumption with higher by pass ratios were leading to bigger and heavier engines in reaspect of the same thrust....
Probably Boeing should explain why they left the 1400 kg heavy JT8D of the 737-200 for a 1900 kg CFM56-3 of the 737"classic" and after that a 2400 kg CFM56-7 of the 737NG, then!
HAL9000,
You seem to have missed my point entirely. The entire reason both manufacturers are re-engining their aircraft is to achieve cost savings. In that endeavor, they both appear to have been successful. And as I mentioned in my previous post, Boeing maintains that the 737MAX will continue to enjoy an operating cost advantage over the A320neo.
As I'm sure you're aware, the differences between JT8D, CFM56s and the new LEAP engines is not simply fan size and bypass ratios. There are of course incremental savings every time you increase the fan size but the difference when using the same core are not as dramatic as you are making them out to be. If they were, the A320neo would enjoy a significant operating cost advantage over the 737MAX and I do not believe that is the case at all.
Hunter32,
What I'm pointing out is that the Boeing has taken a much shorter step than they made in the past passing from the -200 to the "classic" and later o the NG. I would have expected something more out of Boeing.
The landing gear issue has been an issue since the developement of the "classic", they didn't solved it then, they didn't faced it neither when passing to the NG, and they didn't want to get rid of it now it now, and this is the price they pay....
The step they have made now is much shorter that the one Airbus did with the A320 (a much easier step for Airbus, as said, as the airframe is younger).
Airbus claim that the A320neo will have a 15% fuel burn reduction versus the actual model while Boeing claims a 10-11% for the 737 MAX.
I say: "whatever is" the actual 737 advantage over the actual A320, this advantage will be narrowed if not vanished passing to neo-max generation.
Hunter32:the differences between JT8D, CFM56s and the new LEAP engines is not simply fan size and bypass ratios.
No the differences between the JD8D, CFM56 and the LEAP-X are not only the fan size and BPR, but regarding the A320neo and the 737max, as they are mounting the same core engine, the differences remain just in the BPR. (of course the alternative "PW-purepower" engine it is a completely different animal, so the differences are much deeper)
Boeing wanted to do a clean sheet design. They just couldn't make the economics and production system work. It's one thing to do a composite airframe on the 787 and it's relatively low production rate vs the 737 at 40+/month. I'm sure that by the time they commit to a redesign in the 2020s they'll feel comfortable rolling out that technology on a high production rate aircraft.
The feedback from their customers was: if you're keeping the same design, change as little as possible. So that's what they did. The incremental efficiency gain wasn't worth the cost difference of operating two planes with different landing gear and all of the knock on changes that that would have neccessitated.
You're probably right that the A320neo has closed the cost gap vs the B737MAX. I think the B737MAX is still slightly more efficient but it doesn't really matter in the market place. From all of the numbers I've seen, the NG737 was more efficient than the A320 and thus cost less to operate. And yet Airbus was able to sell them by the thousands. When it comes to large aircraft orders, politics and financing can and often do trump aircraft performance.
The success of the B787 will determine if the B737MAX will be based on it or a Only a ReEngined B737.