The WSJ story about a new Boeing single-aisle airplane has the industry all a-chatter this morning for good reason. This is something many have been watching for – knowing the NMA and other names for this project never really came to a halt. Boeing, like all OEMs, continually thinks about and considers their next program. For obvious reasons, information on this effort is kept as tightly controlled as possible. And it is the item people like us sniff for constantly!
was going to replace the MAX was never the question. The question has always been “when”. Following the MAX’s unfortunate debut, the prevailing thought was that it would be sooner rather than later. Typically, the timeline is 12 years from firming the idea to EIS. But the cost of the 787 and MAX programs limited Boeing’s options. Program missteps caused the typical program refreshes to go out of sync. This is well known and has been observed over the past decade. The outcome was a “lost decade” for Boeing.
