The 737 is an aviation legend and has been a Boeing workhorse for almost six decades. But for years, the company has been looking to develop an all-new, narrow-body aircraft. Lots and lots of stuff has delayed the process. But now at long last the 737's successor is likely set to go into development.
Boeing is planning a new single-aisle airplane that would succeed the 737 MAX, according to people familiar with the matter, a long-term bid to recover business lost to rival Airbus during its series of safety and quality problems.... Boeing has also been designing the flight deck of a new narrow-body aircraft, according to a person familiar with the plans. This new aircraft is in early-stage development and plans are still taking shape, some of the people said.
The 737 MAX has been in service since 2017 and consists of the MAX 7, MAX 8, MAX 9, and MAX 10. This is the series that was involved in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that highlighted, tragically, some issues with the design. Boeing of course has successfully upgraded the 737 for many years; it first entered service in 1967. But the more recent crashes revived a discussion about when the aviation giant would finally start work on a new aircraft.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg has been on the job for a little over a year. With the 737 successor, he has a chance to make a permanent mark on Boeing and revive the company's once-legendary, engineering-driven culture. According to the Wall Street Journal, he's starting with the engines. Sources said that Ortberg is talking to Rolls-Royce, and if that goes forward, it would be a major shift for Boeing after working with GE for a very long time.
Ortberg senses an opportunity and wants to start building support. He also probably thinks he has some room to run, after his predecessor dealt with a welter of problems. According to WSJ:
Boeing's previous chief, Dave Calhoun, considered reviving the effort for a midsize aircraft to gradually replace the 737 family and discussed the idea with customers. Those grand plans took a back seat to more-pressing problems following a midair door-plug blowout that exposed persistent manufacturing problems and led to Calhoun's departure in 2024.
The upshot is that we have good reason to get excited as a new, clean-sheet Boeing plane is, quite simply, a thrilling prospect.
From the WSJ's reporting, it sounds as though Boeing is definitely leaning single-aisle for this new plane. That simplifies some of the speculation about the by-now almost mythical 797 (officially the New Midsize Airplane, or NMA), which has been on the drawing board for a decade and has been envisioned as a sort of hybrid of the 757 and 767 and the 787 Dreamliner. Chatter about that project included the idea of a double-aisle design that operated like a single-aisle airframe and entailed the latest and greatest in Boeing technological innovations.
This would have been an everything plane, but as Boeing's woes have mounted and competition with rival Airbus has intensified – particularly with narrow-bodies – the company is apparently thinking about a straightforward 737 replacement while it maintains wide-body offerings in the 777 and the 787. Two planes for long-haul service, and perhaps just one narrow-body for everything else. The jetliner could still be delayed. And after all, the 737 MAX remains completely viable. But aviation fans certainly have something to look forward to if Boeing takes the plunge.