Boeing has blamed the shortage of customers for its planned re-engined 737 on the lack of board approval, but is confident orders will flood in once approval is secured.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Jim Albaugh said that "when we launch [the re-engined 737] we will see quite a number of orders for whatever we call this 737".
American Airlines today ordered 100 re-engined 737s plus 60 options as part of a huge narrowbody aircraft order which it split between Boeing and Airbus.
American Airlines chief Gerard Arpey said that he is "not in a position to say" whether the Dallas-based carrier will be the first airline to operate the re-engined 737, but "I'm happy to do that".
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
