New Boeing In the Works

[11bee]

Now that Boeing has completed development on the 787 and engineering work on the 777X upgrade is nearly done, looks like they are focusing on a "Middle of the Market" jet, ie - something between the larger versions of 737 and the 787-8.  Basically, a new iteration of my favorite jet, the 757, which I feel Boeing retired way too soon.    They want something that can haul a moderate load of passengers on medium distance (trans-Atlantic is one typical route it would be used for) missions.   These routes can currently be flown by the 737/787 but the economics aren't favorable. 

 

It's been hinted that the aircraft would have some novel features, including twin-aisles in an oval-shaped fuselage with 2-3-2 seating but it sounds like this hasn't been finalized yet.    Anyways, there is an interesting blog article here:

 

https://jonostrower.com/2018/03/the-boeing-797-of-2025-is-this-2018-conceptual-nma-rendering/

 

Boeing hasn't officially launched this jet yet but they are getting some pressure from some major airlines to pull the trigger on it.  Will be interesting to see how this plays out.  If it goes well, could pretty much ensure Boeing's dominance over it's nemesis Airbus in every aircraft class except narrow-body.   On that note, still feel that Boeing missed a golden opportunity a few years back to go with a "clean sheet design".  Instead, they launched just another re-hash of the ancient 737, which has been hurting in sales compared to the new Airbus A320/321neo's.  

Edited May 6, 2018 by 11bee

[Stefan buysse]

Hi,

 

Interesting news, thanks.

 

A friend of mine called the 757 his favorite civil airliner as well. I'm still pretty happy when I see one myself and I was also amazed that they decided to end production.

 

Cheers, Stefan.

[Ben Brown]

It might give the 757 some competition in the good looks department!

 

I recently stumbled across this article about the 757 and why the airlines aren't letting them go (LINK). The author contends Boeing is trying to make the 737 do everything, but it's limited by the size of the engines they can hang under it, among other things. Interesting reading.

 

Ben

[nfiler]

The reason Boeing shut the 757 line down was because there were not enough new orders coming in to justify keeping it open. It wasn't like they just arbitrarily decided to stop production.

[Specter1075]

3 hours ago, nfiler said:

The reason Boeing shut the 757 line down was because there were not enough new orders coming in to justify keeping it open. It wasn't like they just arbitrarily decided to stop production.

 

Which is a shame. I get to see a number of them everyday, and they really are Boeing's most beautiful aircraft.

[jester292]

747 is obviously Boeing’s most beautiful airplane. 😏

 

But, for the same reasons of CASM, 757s are being replaced by smaller narrow bodies with longer range than previous generations. The A321 even carries a similar number of passengers as the -200s. 

 

If Boeing is looking to fill a “Market Gap” between the 737-8 Max and 787-8, it’s only because the 787s are competing with and replacing their own 767s (capacity) and (older) 777s (capacity/range), creating the “Gap” they want to fill.   The 757 capacity/range replacement will leapfrog the A321 by a generation. Hopefully Boeing capitalizes.  

[11bee]

7 minutes ago, jester292 said:

747 is obviously Boeing’s most beautiful airplane. 😏

 

But, for the same reasons of CASM, 757s are being replaced by smaller narrow bodies with longer range than previous generations. The A321 even carries a similar number of passengers as the -200s. 

 

If Boeing is looking to fill a “Market Gap” between the 737-8 Max and 787-8, it’s only because the 787s are competing with and replacing their own 767s (capacity) and (older) 777s (capacity/range), creating the “Gap” they want to fill.   The 757 capacity/range replacement will leapfrog the A321 by a generation. Hopefully Boeing capitalizes.  

A321neo is a big part of why BA is going this route.  The 737-10 just can't compete on the longer range missions and there is no growth left in that tired old airframe.    I do wonder if this new jet will just be a niche product that even if it dominates the market, will only sell a thousand or so airframes (similar to the sales record of the 757).  Regardless, I'm hoping that they pull the trigger on this and start the formal design process.  Going to be interesting to see what the final layout will be.  Got some airlines pushing for a ovoid shaped fuselage, which maximizes passengers at the expense of underbelly cargo.  Then you have some other key airlines (mostly Asian) who seem to be pushing for a wider, circular fuselage that can take significantly more cargo, I'm assuming, at the expense of weight and some performance hits. 

[jester292]

Cargo has too much money in it, and too much potential, to be sacrificed for more passengers.  They’ll definitely go for some cargo space in the design. As for performance, they’ll design the fuselage around it’s mission, design wings to maximize lift and minimize drag, then pick engines from the big 3 to power it and certify it. And as with the 757 and 777, it will probably be able to fly on a single engine to the moon. 😁

 

I don’t follow this closely but it will be interesting to see what they come up with. 

Edited May 9, 2018 by jester292