Boeing has not named the five airlines which have ordered the 496 737RE

Delta Air Lines, which last week ordered 100 Boeing 737-900ERs. Although Delta said then that it wouldn’t place another order for single-aisle jets for at least a year, Deltas is know to be planning an order to replace at least 100 single-aisle jets in the 737-7 seat-capacity range. Alaska Airlines has also indicated its interest in a new version of the 7737.

The new 737 family will be powered by CFM International LEAP-1B engines optimized for the 737. Boeing claims the 737RE will have the lowest operating costs in the single-aisle segment, estimating a 7 per cent advantage over the competing – and extremely fast-selling – Airbus A320neo family, which offer a choice of engine types between the CFM LEAP-1A and the Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1100G geared turbofan. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2017.

Boeing has not offered specific operating-cost comparisons between the 737-7 at the lower end of the 737RE family and the all-new, 110-to-149-seat Bombardier CSeries family. Bombardier claims the CSeries will have operating costs some 20 per cent lower than any comparably sized single-aisle aircraft operating today and at least 10 per cent lower than any re-engined 737 or A320, since these aircraft’s airframes will be based on existing designs and thus are not aerodynamically optimized either in terms of the latest aerodynamic design thinking or in designing the airframes round their new engines. The CSeries will be powered by the PW1500G version of the PurePower PW1000G geared-turbofan family.