737 max

Sardaukar

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http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/09/12/361641/caution-welcomed-boeings-737-max.html


Caution welcomed: Boeing's 737 Max
By Niall O’Keeffe


When Boeing finally ended the long period of dithering that #followed Airbus's launch of the A320neo re-engined narrowbody in December, it was to make a move that seemed disappointingly conservative.
After all, pressure to stand apart from its major rival had only mounted over the course of 2011, as Airbus racked up commitments to its revamped single-aisle, topping the 1,000-unit mark after an orders bonanza at June's Paris air show. Seattle, meanwhile, was #wrestling a dilemma.
With its wounds from the long battle to bring the 787 to the market still weeping, could Boeing take on the enormous expense and engineering burden that an all-new type would entail? This in exchange for a differentiated marketing pitch and a step-change improvement in operating efficiency, rather than a merely incremental one?
Or must a pragmatic attitude prevail, #guiding the airframer to a product that kept pace with its rival in performance, timeframe and cost terms?
The latter option of course won out, in a fashion that lent itself to cynical interpretation. In selecting a "me too" strategy, Boeing begged a question: why had it waited so long, if not to prepare something radical? And the fact that the airframer's future vision was first revealed not in its own communiqué, but in a statement by the re-engined type's launch customer American Airlines - one which also contained an even bigger commitment to the A320neo - gave the distinct impression that the decision had ultimately been imposed by the market, rather than internally.
This naturally dampened the fanfare when, in late August, it became official.
Yet despite all this, Boeing's re-engining programme has since gained the approval of critical opinion-formers.

NO MOODY BLUES
When ratings agency Moody's issued its weekly credit outlook on the USA's Labor Day - 5 September - the 737 Max gained an #endorsement that, given its source, seemed destined to reverberate through the financial markets - to the airframer's advantage.
The headline news was that Moody's had deemed the Max "a credit positive" - in other words, something that boosted Boeing's #perceived safety as a destination for investment capital or debt.
The Max has put its creator "back in the narrowbody race", reckons Moody's.
Marketing theory puts a lot of importance in the benefits of being first to a market. But, to judge from Moody's assessment, a mere nine months or so might not count for quite so much in the slow-moving world of aerospace product development.
The Max announcement "erases an early-mover advantage for competitor Airbus in the race to provide airlines with more fuel-efficient, single-aisle jets", says the agency. "Boeing came out with the 737 Max relatively quickly, and touts an expected 4% advantage in fuel burn for its plane over the coming Airbus A320neo model." That further translates into a 10-12% advantage, per seat, over the latest 737s now in operation, says Boeing.
And Moody's reads significance into the fact that "Boeing notably didn't lose any of its core customers, even though it lacked a bona fide me-too alternative to the A320neo for nearly a year". However, the 737 Max is slated to enter service in 2017, where Airbus foresees a commercial debut for the A320neo in October 2015.
 
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