According to The Wall Street Journal, Boeing has begun work on developing a new single-aisle aircraft intended to replace the Boeing 737 MAX, the U.S. manufacturer’s best-selling model, which serious crises have also marred in recent years. The project is still in its early stages, and according to people familiar with the plans, the current focus is on designing the flight deck.
The sources also state that Boeing’s CEO, Kelly Ortberg, visited the United Kingdom earlier this year to meet with Rolls-Royce representatives to discuss a potential new engine for the aircraft. In the meantime, Ortberg has appointed a new chief product development officer in the commercial division, someone with experience in designing entirely new types of aircraft. However, there are still no public confirmations regarding the characteristics of the future model, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The announcement of the new narrowbody comes as Boeing faces regulatory challenges and works to stabilize 737 MAX production. The company is currently delivering 38 units per month, but ambitions to ramp up output have been hampered by safety incidents, including the well-known door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines jet in early 2024. Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference in September, Ortberg emphasized that restoring quality and reliability is the top priority, noting also that certification of the 777-9 widebody is delayed and that Boeing faces, in his words, “a mountain of work.”
The 737 MAX entered service in 2017, but two crashes involving Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines within five months led to its worldwide grounding in March 2019. After a 20-month ban, the FAA cleared the type to return to service in November 2020 – the longest grounding of a U.S. passenger aircraft in history.
Whether the new aircraft will resolve the reputational and technical challenges that have defined Boeing in recent years remains an open question. Still, the launch of the project signals that the U.S. manufacturer is preparing the biggest shift in its narrowbody segment since the 1960s, when the 737 first took to the skies.
