Boeing’s 737 MAX has had a rough time. There have been accidents, groundings, and now FAA production rate restrictions due to “quality escapes.”
However, data shows that the MAX line delivers on Boeing’s promise of excellent fuel burn. The 737 is lighter than its A320 family equivalents, which gives it a critical advantage. Despite being an over half-century-old design, the 737 does yeoman work for operators.
After reviewing data from Skailark, we developed the following charts. Because of the interruptions the MAX has faced, the data is inconsistent for the early periods of its service life. Therefore, we settled on the period 2022 through 1Q24. Our charts show fuel burn/ASM against average stage lengths. The world regions we report from include Asia, the EU, North America, and Oceania. Moreover, we filtered for the current generation single-aisles.
